Less than 1pct of of fines given to road accident victims

 

The Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT) imposed 457.8 million euros in fines over the course of 2010, however much less than 1 million of this went towards helping the victims of road accidents.

This comes despite a law coming into force in 2009 which stipulates that 1% of all fines collected should be spent on accident prevention, road safety and supporting victims of road crashes.

In 2010 the sum spent on supporting the Victims of road accidents was just 450'000 - less than 0.01% of the fines collected, which comes despite the department collecting a fraction under 1 billion euros in fines and taxes combined.

Spain's Association of Road Traffic Accident Victims, who receive and manage the funds since 2007, say that the sum received does not reflect the high number of accidents on Spanish roads and does not allow them to offer sufficient assistance to enough victims.

The law does give details of what percentage of fines should be paid to the Association, and that in 2010 of the 822 Million euros spent by the DGT, almost 50% was spent on the promotion of road safety and, 86 million was spent on anti-congestion measures, and 253 million euros was spent on technologies and systems to record and implement infractions, impose infractions, and collect fines.

Whilst the DGT has a total of 10'000 employees, who are paid from the fines collected as opposed by being financed from central government, the Association of Road Traffic Accident Victims are entirely a voluntary association.