The rising accident rate in Spain in 1960-89 is discussed in relation to deficiencies in the road infrastructure, driver attitudes and poor driver education. A new Road Safety Act was passed in 1990 with higher penalties for traffic offences including temporary disqualification from driving, and this resulted in a reduction in the number of accidents. This was followed in 1992 with the General Traffic Regulation, an information campaign with realistic recreation of emergency footage in a television advertisement, and the distribution of a booklet explaining the new regulations. This brought about a 12.5% decrease in accidents. The television advertisements were followed up one and two years later with personal sequels of the fictional accident victims. 95% of the people interviewed accurately remembered the campaign and 80% considered that it had affected their way of driving.
Samenvatting