Malaga's roads claim seven lives in one of the darkest summers of the past decade

Seven people have died on Malaga's roads this summer calling into question the maintenance of the province's thoroughfares.

The fatalities occurred throughout July, and so far in August, in traffic accidents on interurban roads, according to SUR's reporting of recent incidents.

It is one of the highest figures in the past decade, according to Directorate-General for Traffic (DGT) data, and the worst since 2019. This summer is on par with 2015, and is only behind 2016, where eight people lost their lives on roads. The post-pandemic years recorded between five and six deaths, which has been surpassed this year.

Despite a summer spike in fatalities, Malaga has recorded one less death between 1 January to 15 August this year than the same period in 2022 (17 compared to 18). Last year to date there were 18 accidents resulting in death, compared to 13 in 2023, according to the data.

Secondary roads

The majority of serious accidents have happened on secondary roads this summer which, could be linked to a lack of maintenance on many of these thoroughfares.

This was the case in one of the most recent incidents, which occurred on 2 August on the A-367 road in the municipality of Cañete la Real. Well-known agricultural businessman Miguel Ángel Reguera, president of the Agrupación de Defensa Sanitaria Ganadera in Ronda and a member of the board of directors of Asaja Málaga, died along with one of his workers, who was from Cuevas del Becerro, where he was also well known and loved. About 10.40pm, emergency services control centre 112 Andalucía responded to a call from a witness who alerted authorities to a car that crashed off the road and into a ravine on the Ronda road, just past the Cuevas del Becerro crossroads.

The A-367 has become one of the most troubled roads so far this summer. On Tuesday 15 August, seven people, including a three-year-old girl were injured in a road accident. Several ambulances and a medical helicopter were mobilised after the head-on collision involving three cars at kilometre-21, between Cañete la Real and Cuevas del Becerro. As a result of the incident, the main road in the Serranía de Ronda was closed in both directions for two hours. Members of the fire brigade rescued three people trapped inside damaged vehicles.

Another black day in the province was 7 August, after two people were killed in traffic incidents. A motorcyclist died when he crashed into a car on the A-7281 at kilometre-3 in Antequera. A woman was also killed after being run over on the hyper-roundabout, just before the Churriana tunnel. The victim got out of her broken-down vehicle and was then hit by another car, according to the DGT.

And if August is proving to be a tragic month on Malaga's roads with four fatalities, so was last July with another three deaths. The most serious of these occurred on 14 July on the stretch of the toll motorway (AP-7) which runs through the municipality of Marbella. Two cars were stationary on the hard shoulder when they were hit by a lorry, which left the road and crashed into an embankment - two people died and four people were injured.

Two lorries were also involved in another fatal accident on 26 July on the Mediterranean motorway (A-7) in Vélez-Málaga. Two lorries were travelling in the direction of Motril when they collided.

Two tragic accidents in Coín

Without appearing in the DGT's official summer statistics, as the count officially starts on 1 July, an accident on 29 June also claimed two lives - two young men aged 24 and 26 after a head-on collision between a lorry and their car on the A-355 in Coín.

Barely two kilometres away from the scene of the accident, two women from Coín were also killed in another head-on collision on 5 May. The two young women were travelling in their cars, when one vehicle apparently veered into the oncoming lane.