Spain’s long Constitution-Inmaculada bridge ended on a sombre note after the Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT) confirmed 13 fatalities and 13 serious injuries in 11 road accidents between Friday afternoon and Monday evening, 8 December. The provisional tally excludes Catalonia and the Basque Country, which compile their own statistics, meaning the national figure could rise once regional data are consolidated.
Saturday proved the deadliest day with six deaths. The casualty rate is lower than the 18 deaths logged in the same period last year, yet the DGT called the outcome ‘unacceptable’ given a 5.7-million-vehicle displacement forecast and extensive enforcement: 780 fixed and mobile speed cameras, 216 alcohol-drug checkpoints, 39 drones and 12 Pegasus helicopters.
For corporate fleet managers the statistics reinforce the need for driver-safety briefings ahead of Spain’s remaining holiday spikes—Christmas and Epiphany. Companies with assignees on domestic projects are urged to mandate rest-time compliance and to consider rail alternatives on busy corridors such as Madrid-Valencia and Barcelona-Zaragoza, where AVE services now rival door-to-door car times.
![Holiday road-trip surge leaves 13 dead; DGT urges caution as 5.7 million journeys clog Spanish highways]()
Mobility planners juggling holiday-season assignments may also find value in VisaHQ’s Spain portal (https://www.visahq.com/spain/), which streamlines visa applications and travel documentation for employees, contractors and visiting clients. Leveraging the platform’s real-time tracking and expert support can prevent last-minute paperwork snags and keep business itineraries aligned with evolving safety protocols.
The DGT’s early analysis attributes most crashes to fatigue and distraction after long return trips; two incidents involved business vans returning from regional trade fairs. A nationwide road-safety reform package, including graduated licence penalties for mobile-phone use, is expected to reach Parliament in the first quarter of 2026.
From a mobility-programme standpoint, organisations should update risk registers to reflect heightened accident exposure during Spain’s increasingly popular ‘super-puentes’, when two public holidays create a five-day weekend. Insurers report a 9 % spike in corporate liability claims linked to employee travel during such periods.
Saturday proved the deadliest day with six deaths. The casualty rate is lower than the 18 deaths logged in the same period last year, yet the DGT called the outcome ‘unacceptable’ given a 5.7-million-vehicle displacement forecast and extensive enforcement: 780 fixed and mobile speed cameras, 216 alcohol-drug checkpoints, 39 drones and 12 Pegasus helicopters.
For corporate fleet managers the statistics reinforce the need for driver-safety briefings ahead of Spain’s remaining holiday spikes—Christmas and Epiphany. Companies with assignees on domestic projects are urged to mandate rest-time compliance and to consider rail alternatives on busy corridors such as Madrid-Valencia and Barcelona-Zaragoza, where AVE services now rival door-to-door car times.
Mobility planners juggling holiday-season assignments may also find value in VisaHQ’s Spain portal (https://www.visahq.com/spain/), which streamlines visa applications and travel documentation for employees, contractors and visiting clients. Leveraging the platform’s real-time tracking and expert support can prevent last-minute paperwork snags and keep business itineraries aligned with evolving safety protocols.
The DGT’s early analysis attributes most crashes to fatigue and distraction after long return trips; two incidents involved business vans returning from regional trade fairs. A nationwide road-safety reform package, including graduated licence penalties for mobile-phone use, is expected to reach Parliament in the first quarter of 2026.
From a mobility-programme standpoint, organisations should update risk registers to reflect heightened accident exposure during Spain’s increasingly popular ‘super-puentes’, when two public holidays create a five-day weekend. Insurers report a 9 % spike in corporate liability claims linked to employee travel during such periods.
