In the early morning of this Sunday, a bus overturned that left six dead and nearly 30 injured who were already taken to different health centers. The accident occurred south of the department, on the road to the town of Los Andes, Nueva Granada, which leads to Santa Ana, Magdalena.
The vehicle was an interdepartmental bus that covered the Barranquilla-Mompox route and was affiliated with the Unitrasco company. The means of transport carried 32 passengers, not counting the workers, and due to the accident, 28 were injured and six lost their lives.
Among the deceased were the driver of the vehicle, Julio César Vega and the passenger Nury Pianeta; the other people who lost their lives have not yet been identified. According to Unitrasco in a press release, the bus driver had been working with the company for 11 years and was 39 years old.
The victims' relatives arrived at the scene to verify the state of health of their loved ones. Meanwhile, hospitals in Bosconia (Cesar), El Difficult (Magdalena), Mompox (Bolivar) and Santa Ana (Magdalena) were the health centers that treated those injured in the accident.
The authorities are carrying out the respective investigations to find out with certainty the causes of the accident. The first hypothesis that the police have, according to Noticias Caracol, is that the driver would have suffered a microsleep, so he lost control and left the road near the urban area of the municipality of Santa Ana.
461 people died in traffic accidents in the month of February 2022
The National Road Safety Observatory recorded in the most recent report that, as of February 2022, 461 fatalities, representing a reduction of 13 people died compared to the same month in 2021. “Although February was a positive month with fewer fatalities recorded compared to the last three years, we cannot let our guard down and road safety must be strengthened throughout the country,” said Transport Minister Angela María Orozco.
The document also highlighted that, compared to the last three years, there is an increase in the number of deceased vehicle drivers, with 139 victims so far in 2022, compared to 114 people who lost their lives in 2020 and 96 who died in 2021.
In addition, pedestrians killed in traffic accidents so far this year showed an increase, with 239 people killed in 2022, compared to 221 recorded in 2020 and 168 victims in 2021.
“It is necessary for local and departmental authorities to share our concern about the increase in deaths (...) There is evidence of the need to work on joint strategies focused on road actors who are losing their lives in the midst of a road accident,” said Angela María.
Among the departments that recorded the greatest increase in the number of deaths were: Valle del Cauca (24), Meta (24) and Antioquia (16). On the other hand, Risaralda (11), Casanare (11), Cesar (8), Norte de Santander (7) and Magdalena (7) presented lower indicators.
The National Road Safety Agency called for not exceeding the speed limits, taking into account that, so far in 2022, 110 motorcyclists have lost their lives for this reason compared to 72 deaths recorded in 2021.
Several studies have established that the main accidents in Colombia are related to speeding, mechanical failures, driver impairment (lack of foresight) and fatigue.
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