Torrejon de Ardoz: the safest European city in terms of traffic incidents

12 years in a row is a record worthy of admiration

Most likely you have never heard of Torrejon de Ardoz – a municipality of about 130,000 residents lying in the far eastern periphery of the Madrid metropolitan area. Unless you’re really into space news that is - since this is where the European Union Satellite Centre (SatCen) and the Spanish space agency are located. However, there are more reasons for this small suburban city to become better known.

Earlier this month, it got awarded the annual Vision Zero Municipal award for having zero fatalities in traffic accidents during 2020. In fact, the city of Torrejón has been reaching this positive result for 12 consecutive years, being the largest European city to manage such a feat for 12 years in a row.

13 other Spanish cities received awards for 2020

Torrejon de Arroz was one of the 14 Spanish cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants awarded this award in 2020 along with Vitoria-Gasteiz, Jerez de la Frontera, Pamplona, ​​Fuenlabrada, Getafe, Burgos, Albacete, Logroño, Mataró, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Jaén, Telde and Barakaldo. Torrejon’s record on traffic safety, however, places it in a league of its own altogether.

In order to achieve such a long stretch without traffic fatalities, the local City Council has implemented a variety of measures.

Among them are the Pedestrian Safety Plan with the lighting of pedestrian crossings, the construction of raised crosswalks, the Architectural Barriers Elimination Plan, the creation of roundabouts or the installation of new traffic lights, along with other preventive actions. There is also the Road Safety Course and the Children's Traffic Park that is held annually with the aim of instilling good habits about road safety in kids, as well as the knowledge and respect towards the norms that regulate traffic. We should also mention the overpasses distributed all over the city that contributes to the reduction of incidents. 

In addition, multiple communication tools have been made available to citizens, who by means of filling a simple form can leave their contributions, many of which are used in improvements to road safety.