Be careful!
Spain's National Roads are those roads that served as major highways before the coming of the autovia and the autopista that now carry the major share of through traffic. The national roads now connect the many villages, and the two other types of roads are by-pass highways. National roads carry two-way traffic without a central barrier, except the centre painted line, and that's the problem.
When driving a long distance the driver can see for himself how the danger multiplies and the risk grows . Firstly, there are sections where the layout of the road is just plain confusing. While passing through El Campello in Alicante province along the N-332, it is very difficult to understand what the designer had in mind, so, if it's confusing to a moving driver, it is also helping to promote a crash.
Secondly, there are the drivers themselves, the ones who are a menace to society. They seem to have the idea that they are cool, and super good drivers. So they speed, overtake, zip in and out, and disappear in a cloud of smoke leaving a long line of drivers who have been shocked by his actions, and nearly driven into each other by his distractions.
These roads are toll-free, and that attracts a lot of traffic that is trying to keep costs down. As a result the opportunity to overtake safely is very much diminished, but that is no obstacle to the foolhardy. The result of that is there are so many head-on collisions in which dead people are hauled away to the morgue. It is all too common that innocent people lose their lives to a maniac in this manner. When I see people driving without responsibility I can only hope that there is a tree waiting for them, and only them to take them off the road.
Spain's death toll-rate is falling because so many of the lunatics have killed themselves, which is a good thing, but unfortunately they took other people with them.
Another contributing factor to head-on collisions is the fact that for many drivers they will have to make a left turn across incoming traffic in order to get to their destination. There is a lack of roundabouts that otherwise would encourage the driver to carry-on to one to make the turn that puts them on the other side and then to make their turn off the road from the right-hand lane. Making a left turn across the incoming lane is a very tricky operation. First you make certain that the traffic behind is not about to overtake you, then you check that there is nothing in the left lane before making the turn. What often goes wrong is that the driver does not check several times to make sure that the lane is clear, and in particular, that he fails to look for motorcycles. If you are looking for cars and trucks you may completely miss the motorcycle.
National roads are certainly much more interesting, although much slower where the top speeds are 80kph. As modernisation takes place there are some stretches where the legal limit is now 120 kph which does make them more efficient in getting to your destination.
A special word of caution is appropriate about speed cameras and the many sections where it is necessary to reduce speed. I have come to agree with the reduce speed sections and generally make an effort to comply, because such zones do represent heightened areas of risk. I'm concerned about the speed cameras of course, but more importantly I would rather not crash into anyone. Instead I prefer to do my part to make using the road as safe as possible. Whenever I pass a crash site the thought passes my mind that thousands drive pass that very position without incident, so why couldn't those two have done the same?
Yes, national roads are dangerous by design because of a variety of issues, but we drivers can help to reduce the danger by using common sense. There is no substitute for common sense which came free, and there is no restriction on when and how much we can use it.
Copyright (c) 2012 Eugene Carmichael
