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Alba Tenza
Coín
Friday, 2 August 2024, 16:56
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Ten victims lost their lives on one four-kilometre stretch of road in the Guadalhorce valley last year. That is why it is known in Malaga province as the 'road of death', and for decades the different town councils, local residents and drivers who use the area have been calling for measures to improve road safety. This is an objective that has been worked on for many years. And now the A-355, linking Coín and Marbella, will finally have two new speed radar devices which will serve to reduce the accident rate on the road. It is a measure which joins the broad red line which, since the beginning of January, marks the separation between the two lanes in both directions on the busy road.
Although this road recorded ten fatalities last year, some 26 per cent of the figures registered on roads throughout the province, this year has not seen any fatal accidents so far this year. However, faced with such a danger, the Junta de Andalucía and the subdelegation of the government began to meet with the town councils in the area, and on Thursday measures authorised by the regional government became a reality. Spain's national Directorate-General of Transport DGT) will install radar devices to control speeding on this road and two other roads in the Guadalhorce valley.
The red stripe with white borders installed on the road between the exit of the Guadalhorce motorway and Coín, and from Coín towards Monda, was already an unprecedented measure in Andalucía, with only a few similar instances in Catalonia, and is in tune with the European Union's road signs regarding road safety. The aim of this seven-month-old line is none other than to avoid dangerous overtaking, which was the cause of most of the accidents on this road. Since the strip was installed, it is clear that it has worked, as in the last seven months there have been no fatalities on this road.
Until now, the painted strip had been the measure par excellence to reduce the accident rate by reminding drivers that this is a very dangerous two-way road, where it is strictly forbidden to enter the oncoming lane to overtake. The concern of the residents of the area, as well as the noise made by the local town halls, had an effect to the point of accelerating the ordinary procedures of the DGT, which at the beginning of the year was already considering installing radar devices on this stretch. Until now there were none except in Ojén, the final stretch of the road, where the route is more winding than on the Coín road, where there are long straight stretches.
The authorisation granted by the Junta de Andalucía will allow the installation of two speed cameras on the A-355 (Casapalma to Marbella), which will be located at kilometre points 0.950 (right bank) and 4.400 (left bank). Corresponding warning signs will also be installed at kilometre points 0.550 and 5.105. The installation of the speed cameras is planned as a dissuasive measure to improve road safety and reduce accidents on this road, as it has also seen a significant increase in traffic since 2021, the year in which the meetings between the different administrations began.
Since Coín town hall informed the regional ministry of public works of its concern about the increase in traffic on the road - which opened in 2014 with a forecast of 7,000 vehicles per day on average and has now almost reached 20,000 per day - other measures have been implemented such as the construction of four kilometres of crash barriers, the replacement of a damaged viaduct and the renovation and improvement of signage.
Now that the ministry of public works, which owns the road, has given the go-ahead for the new radar on the 'road of death', it has also authorised the installation of two new radars on roads in the Guadalhorce valley. These are on the A-357 (Autovía del Guadalhorce towards Campillos) and on the A-404 (Coín-Churriana). The aim of the installation of these new radars is none other than to continue to increase road safety measures and prevent accidents.
On the A-357 road, two speed cameras will be installed at kilometre points 40.550 and 42.000, on the left-hand side of the road, as well as a warning sign at kilometre point 42.615, on the left-hand side. In addition, a two-way speed camera will be installed on the A-404 road from Coín to Churriana, kilometre point 2.550, right bank, and two warning signs will be installed at kilometre point 1.960, right bank, and kilometre point 2.980, left bank.
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