Balearic roads are third most dangerous in Spain

Staff Reporter THE Balearics is the region of Spain with the third highest number of traffic accidents and figures for death and injury on the roads. According to an Annual Social Report presented by “La Caixa”, a banking and cultural foundation, the Islands' accident rate follows closely behind that of the Basque Country and Catalonia. The Basque Country registers 3.4 accidents for every 1000 inhabitants, Catalonia 3.3 and the Balearics 3.1. Each of these figures is well above the national average by 2.4 percent. In addition, for every 1'000 people resident in the Balearics, the Annual report showed that 4.5 people are registered as being killed or injured on the roads; 5 in the Basque Country; and 4.7 in Catalonia. The national average stands at 3.6 per thousand head of population. With regard to the number of people killed pro rata the total number of accidents recorded, the national average in Spain is 5.4 deaths for every 100 accidents. The most notable statistics emerge from Navarra (19.7 percent), Extremadura (9.7 percent), Castilla y Leon (9.3 percent) and Murcia (9.3 percent), while the lowest are recorded in Madrid (2.8 percent), the Basque Country (3.1 percent) and Catalonia (3.8 percent). The report also highlights the fact that Spain has 4.5 kilometres of motorways and 14.5 kilometres of dual carriageway for evey 1'000 square kilometre of national territory. In respect of motorway volume, the Basque Country emerges top of the list (27.7 kilometres for every 1000 square kilometres of territory), La Rioja (23.7) and Catalonia (20.3), whilst in terms of dual carriageway, Madrid emerges way ahead of the rest with 64.2 kilometres, Cantabria (27.0), the Basque Country (26.8), the Canary Islands (26.7) and Valencia (24.3). The regions which have the finest highway infrastructure, are Madrid (66.3 kilometres for every 1000 square kilometres of territory), the Basque Country (54.5), Catalonia (41.0) and Valencia (38.7). Those which register the lowest volume are Extremadura (6.5), Aragón (8.9), Castilla-La Mancha and Baleares (both with 11.4) and Castilla and León (12.9). Last year, as the graphic shows, was also a tragic year on the roads.