Motorcycles are involved in almost half of the fatal and serious injury crashes that occur in Catalonia, Spain – revealing insights shared yesterday in Reial Automobil Club de Catalunya’s (RACC) presentation of annual Risk Mapping results according to the iRAP methodology.

The study is an initiative of the Catalan Traffic Service in collaboration of the Department of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition of the Government of Catalonia and the Barcelona Provincial Council. It has mapped crash risk on the network each year for 24 years, performance tracking the safety of more than 6,300 km of roads where 93% of mobility and 79% of serious and fatal crashes are concentrated.

The ultimate goal is to provide motorists with a risk guide for the road they are travelling on, enabling them to choose their route and adapt their driving and riding to the infrastructure conditions.

The methodology compares the number of serious and fatal crashes that occurred in the last three years (2022 to 2024) on a section of road with traffic volume (in terms of average daily traffic intensity). It also identifies the concentration of motorcycle and moped crashes per kilometre, and those involving heavy vehicles and bicycles.

Key findings shared at the press conference included:

• In 47% of crashes with deaths and serious injuries, at least one motorcycle or moped was involved.
• In fatal crashes, the presence of motorcycles reached 36% of the total.
• Serious and fatal crashes have increased by 4.97%.
• 26% of the road network has a “high” or “very high” risk of serious or fatal crashes – two points more than in the previous three-year period.
• “Very high”, “high” and “medium” risk is concentrated on undivided roads, with a risk 3.4 times higher than that of divided roads.
• The T-314 road, between Cambrils and Reus, is the section with the highest danger index in Catalonia.
• The section with the highest concentration of bicycle crashes is located for the second consecutive year on the BV-5001, between Martorelles and Vilanova del Vallès.
• 9.2% of the network analysed has not recorded any fatal or serious crashes in the last three years.

The annual societal cost of crashes across the entire network analyzed is estimated at €696 million. Crashes occurring on undivided roads incur costs three times higher than those occurring on dual divided carriageways (€0.013/veh-km vs. €0.038/veh-km).

The findings provide will inform evidence-based investment in road infrastructure upgrades to maximise safety for motorcyclists, and all road users on the network.

For more information, read the press release in Spanish here and Catalan here.

Images credit: RACC