Antonio Bonilla saw a powerful BMW overtake, a huge truck stop suddenly and seconds later the brutal collision between both vehicles. It was a few minutes before six in the morning and, like every day, he traveled in his car from Alhaurín El Grande (Málaga) to the gas station where he works, located between the municipalities of Monda and Coín, at the foot of the A-road. 355. He tried to help, but inside the tourism “that looked like a sandwich” he only found the lifeless bodies of two 26-year-olds. The truck started burning and fell off a bridge, but its driver survived. It was June 2023. Two months earlier two other women had died in the same place. And two months later, a couple also died just eight kilometers away. Two more accidents between November and December have left ten people dead on this road in the last year and in a stretch of just ten kilometers, from 4 to 14. Throughout the province there have been 35 fatalities on interurban roads, seven more than in 2022, according to the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT).
The highway, under autonomous ownership, connects the municipalities of Cártama and Marbella. It is part of a project that sought to unite the province of Malaga from east to west by tracing an arc through its interior, but that was never completed. The area that accumulates one of the highest accident rates in Spain has asphalt in good condition, a wide platform, offers wide visibility, is mainly made up of straight lines or long curves with few grades and has a limit of 80 kilometers per hour. A priori its ingredients offer safe driving, but driving through the area allows you to easily observe the root of the problem. In just five minutes, two motorcycles overtake a truck at full speed, forcing the one coming in front to brake, a Porsche passes five cars in a row without paying attention to the double continuous line, and the van of a masonry company puts three others in check. vehicles, which must slow down to let you pass and avoid a collision with a car traveling in their lane.
A DGT helicopter flew over the highway this Wednesday and at one of the exits towards Coín several Civil Guard patrols carried out extensive control. They are part of the reinforcement agreed in recent weeks to increase surveillance on the road, in which no one knows exactly what to do to reduce accidents because, ultimately, it depends on each driver. “Whatever you do, it's not going to help much. The majority drive well, but there are always a few who drive like crazy or who are not patient when overtaking,” explains Antonio Bonilla while pouring gasoline, accustomed to seeing large displacement cars passing by at 200 kilometers per hour. “They rent them in Marbella and then to run,” he says. “There are also trucks and people get desperate behind, you need a little patience,” adds Ana María.
López at the service station. “There are several areas with three lanes to overtake, but there are those who are unable to follow a trailer, overtake where they shouldn't and then what happens happens,” adds a truck driver.
section radar
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In the last five years, the A-355 has recorded 18 fatalities, 34 serious injuries and 124 minor injuries in 99 accidents, according to the DGT. It was planned to support about 7,000 vehicles per day and already accumulates almost 20,000 on average due to the growth of the capital's metropolitan area. The situation worsens in summer, when the route becomes an effective alternative to Marbella compared to the A-7 highway, which becomes more saturated every year. The ten kilometers that have accumulated ten fatalities in 2023 are in the vicinity of Monda (2,844 inhabitants) and Coín (24,309 inhabitants). The mayor of the latter, Francisco Santos (PP), has reiterated to the media the need to install a section radar in the area to try to reduce the number of accidents. “It is urgent,” he said in SER.
Investigations carried out by the Civil Guard indicate that speed is not the cause of the majority of accidents in the area. According to Traffic, in fact, they have been due to “non-compliance with other provisions of the traffic regulations.” The same sources indicate that a radar is the last resort, since “it is not always the solution to accidents.” The Government assures that if it is requested and authorized by the Junta de Andalucía – owner of the road – and the pertinent studies indicate so, it could be installed, but they also warn that neither the regional nor the local administration has formally requested it.
In a meeting held last September, Traffic delivered a report to the Andalusian Board on the section between kilometer 0 and 23 – the area with the most harmful accidents – and also made a series of recommendations “regarding signage and safety.” road” according to the sources consulted. These include the placement of sound guides on the edges and separation of lanes, the installation of LED road reflectors (warning lights at the foot of the asphalt), painting a continuous line or even a wider strip to separate lanes, as well as thinning road and the marking and striping of the shoulders to induce a reduction in speed.
They are all cheap measures that are highly effective, according to the DGT. Some have already been executed: there are areas in which a double continuous line has been painted, the road axis already sounds if you drive on it and there are four more kilometers with guardrails. “The 2024 budgets include an accident study on which the territorial delegation was already working and the application of new corrective measures,” the regional administration insists, where they do not rule out a possible widening of the road and the construction of a median. They also announce that a red line will be painted on the central axis and pedagogical radars will be placed, that is, those that report the speed at which traffic is traveling, but do not sanction.
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