Balearics heading towards grid lock

People may well be asking “when is the government going to do something about traffic” in response to the report released about the huge increase in traffic and traffic jams along the Inca to Alcudia road. But if figures released yesterday that there are 916 cars per 1'000 inhabitants in the Balearics, are anything to go by, there is little the government can do, apart from widen roads and improve the public transport system. The Balearics has the highest number of cars per capita in Spain according to the annual report published by the director general of traffic in Madrid yesterday. Last year there were 680'362 vehicles registered in the Balearics with a total of 22'411'194 across Spain. The national average is 568 vehicles per 1'000 inhabitants, but in the Balearics the figure is as high as 916 per 1'000 with 796 of the vehicles being private cars. The Balearics is convinced that the road to solving the worsening traffic and parking problems in the Balearics, especially Majorca, is to improve the public transport system. But the main flaw to the plan is that as the Balearics is one of the most affluent regions in Europe, most people are unlikely to leave their new car in the garage and hop on the bus.