I have a few motoring annoyances this month, following on from last month’s electric car rant. Here in Gran Alacant and all over Spain from the 11 May they are to reduce speed limits. BEWARE!
- Any road with one lane in each direction will have a 30kph limit’s
- Single lane roads with a pavement either side raised above the road 30kph
- On single lane roads and double lane roads with pavements at the same level as the road 20kph
- Roads with two lanes or more of traffic in each direction 50kph
I personally think it’s not speed that causes accidents, it is failure to stop. I’d rather be doing 150 kph in a Ferrari than 30kph in some of the junk I see around. It also takes no account of conditions. There’s a joke here in Gran Alacant.
How do you know when it has rained? By the sound of the emergency service sirens.
I’ve never found it difficult to cross a road and not get ran over. Let’s start teaching pedestrians how to cross them. They’ve clearly forgotten. Stop laying all the blame on motorists if pedestrians cannot tackle such a simple task.
If the motivation is to save lives dare I suggest some alternative that may have greater effect?
- Position of Crossings at entrances to junctions. The number of times I have been looking to see a space in traffic to turn left across traffic or keeping an eye on other cars when leaving a roundabout to then only find someone halfway across the crossing is numerous.
- Small last minute direction signs. Now I wear glasses to drive, but I need a microscope to see some of the directional signs and I need to be able to react to them in 0.0075 seconds to follow their instruction.
- No signs at all. How half of Spain’s Towns, shopping centres, golf courses are ever found is beyond me, meaning drivers spend most of the time staring at their sat navs rather than the road.
- Roundabouts and general indicating. Enough said, we’ve all seen this. A lot of the cars we see may be covered in parking prangs, but I guarantee the indicators are in perfect working order!
- Slip roads. Unlike the UK right of way is given to the car on the main carriageway NOT to the car wishing to join it. Many a time I’ve sat there in a stationary car looking for a gap in traffic doing 120kph hoping my 0-100kph speed is better than it says in the manual.
- Control parking better. All that requires is no parking at entrances to roads. Too often I am forced to pull out with zero visibility
These are just a few things that could be altered that I am convinced would improve road and pedestrian safety, but I fear all road planners were shot by Franco many years ago.
The other bone of contention is toll roads. Only very recently the Toll between Gran Alacant and Benidorm and beyond was taken away. Probably at significant cost given the removal of booths, and barriers.
Well they’ve decided to put them back!
Nothing at all to do with the money Spain is getting from the EU as part of the COVID rescue plan of course not. From 2024 they are looking at charging 1 cent per KM. Road pricing on the way. How exactly they will do that we don’t know as yet, but I’m guessing electronically rather than endless tollgates. I seem to remember predicting this last month.
On a positive note, COVID vaccination is moving ahead a lot faster here now. Communidad Valencia’s rate of COVID is the lowest in all Spain, so come on over as soon as you can, we are all waiting.
I promise next month more upbeat!
Reasons to be Cheerful …
Firstly, it appears Winter is behind us. By Spanish standards a long one. The sun is shining and the patio doors permanently open.
COVID vaccination is moving ahead a lot faster here now. Communidad Valencia’s rate of COVID is the lowest in all Spain, currently at only 44 per 100,000 so come on over as soon as you can, we are all waiting.
Bars are open as are restaurants, and you can even get a haircut!
Walking around I see many bars not closing but improving. What was BarLoko is to be a Thai restaurant associated with Mandalas next door. Inferno has also revamped its exterior
Stay safe everyone. Remember the only difference between an optimist and a pessimist is an optimist has a better time.
Terry
