The director of the Catalan Traffic Service, Ramon Lamiel, has reiterated that the 10-kilometer section of the AP-7 closed Due to the instability of the terrain at the site of the train accident in Gelida—in which a trainee driver died when a retaining wall on the highway collapsed—the road will remain closed "for days." In fact, this Saturday, the head of Traffic will accompany personnel from the Ministry of Transport, which owns the highway, on a site visit to analyze the condition of the lanes. Once further details of the road surface inspection are available, other solutions could be found to alleviate the traffic restrictions.

Speed limits will be reduced, and there will be more speed cameras to ensure that drivers, especially truck drivers, are actually respecting the speed limit. These are two of the main measures announced this Thursday by the Catalan Interior Ministry to address the increase in fatal accidents on the AP-7, Catalonia's busiest motorway. The data for this artery of the country's circulation is not good.This year, up to 15 people have lost their lives, more than double the number from last year. "The goal is to improve road safety to reduce fatalities and serious injuries," stated the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, at a press conference this Thursday morning, where she also announced enhanced training for non-EU truck drivers. As reported by ARA this past weekend, the Interior Ministry is focusing on trucks, and these measures will be accompanied by increased monitoring of heavy vehicles. In fact, starting next month, trucks will be limited to 80 km/h on the AP-7 highway section between Calafat (Baix Ebre) and Amposta (Montsià), precisely the area where two serious truck accidents—one fatal—occurred 10 days ago, causing hours of traffic jams. Similarly, passenger cars will have to reduce their speed to 100 km/h. These restrictions will only apply to southbound traffic and are expected to come into effect next month. The Ministry of Transport, which owns the road, is already working on the new signage. This strategy will initially be in place for six months. The director of the Catalan Traffic Service (SCT), Ramon Lamiel, pointed out that at this point on the Ebro River, some accidents have been linked to vehicles leaving the road, which is why they have opted to reduce the speed limit. Trucks are not allowed to proceed along this stretch, and it was found that 2% of them violate this prohibition. The speed limit will be accompanied by increased radar enforcement to ensure compliance.

Mobile phone use while driving is one of the major areas for improvement on the Catalan road network. According to data from the Catalan Traffic Service (SCT), 22% of fatal road accidents were related to improper mobile phone use, consolidating mobile phone use as the second most common factor in accidents, surpassed only by traffic violations.

When the doorbell rang, Mar Capdevila thought it was her son, who had left his keys. It was two Mossos d'Esquadra officers, accompanied by three other people. She was surprised, but she hadn't imagined the worst. They entered, sat down, and after a brief silence, broke the bad news: her partner, the father of her children, had died in a motorcycle accident. "I tuned out. They were talking, but I wasn't there. He had left," Mar describes. "I told them to leave, that I wanted to be alone, that I wanted to cry alone. I was in shock, in a daze," she continues. They didn't leave her alone.

"Ten people will die on the roads next month and they don't even know it yet." With this forcefulness, Commissioner Mònica Luis, head of the General Mobility Commissariat of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan Police), summarizes the tragedy that regularly occurs on Catalan roads. This year, 62 people have lost their lives on the road. These are heartbreaking deaths, "of someone who doesn't return home and to whom you haven't been able to say goodbye." And many are preventable deaths, often caused by distractions from phones and screens, speeding, or alcohol or drug use. "We can all do more," Luis concludes.

A call for extreme caution on the roads ahead of a weekend of intense traffic. The Catalan Traffic Service (SCT) is urging drivers to take special care behind the wheel due to the coincidence of the Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with the usual number of Saturday and Sunday commutes at this time of year, a result of the good weather and the approaching summer.

On return service days, after a long weekend or a holiday period, the C-31 highway, known as the coastal axis, accumulates long traffic jams with thousands of vehicles traveling towards Barcelona or Girona from the Baix Empordà region, especially from the towns of Palafrugell, Calella, Palamós, and Platja d'Aro. To avoid these queues, many drivers, following the alternative routes suggested by Google Maps, opt to exit this highway near Platja d'Aro and take a shortcut along the inland roads that pass through Castell and Santa Cristina d'Aro, until they rejoin the C-31 further downstream. This practice, in turn, has ended up causing significant traffic problems within the municipalities, with traffic jams on narrow streets poorly equipped to handle this volume of traffic, which has completely disrupted the normal life of residents.

Since tolls were removed on the AP-7, 40% more vehicles use this motorway. According Catalan Home Affairs minister Joan Ignasi Elena, the AP-7 "has a saturation problem" that is not exclusive to weekends because the number of hours and kilometres of queues is "practically the same" every day. For this reason, the Government has announced new measures after the latest traffic jams, the Government has announced new measures: additional lanes on the motorway, more tow trucks to remove vehicles which have suffered an accident and restricting lorry traffic. Elena has warned that in some sections the AP-7 has more vehicles than the road can absorb and has asked the State to make "the promised investments", in addition to reversing the "decades of neglect of commuter trains".