Spain’s most dangerous roads revealed: have you driven on any of these?

THE Royal Automobile Club of Spain (RACE) has released its 2020 list of most dangerous roads in Spain according to fatality figures.

The grim list gathers data from across the country and prepares a list based on a metric known as the ‘Danger Index (DI)’.

The DI is a figure that is derived from the number of fatalities on a certain section of government ran highway compared to the number of vehicles that pass through.

Once the figures are accumulated, the results are split into specific sections of roads, municipalities and provinces.

Top of the list with a DI of 118.9 is a section of the N-240 between km 303 and km 316.8 in Huesca, a high speed single carriageway road that is a popular area for speeding.

Second lies a stretch of road on the N-541 between km 23.5 and 33.6 in the province of Orense, with a DI of 107.2.

The N-345 in Murcia, the N-642 Lugo and the N-550 in La Coruna all make the top five, with the top ten being made up of sections of the N-433 (Huelva), N-601 (Leon), N-330 (Valencia) and the N-260 (Girona).

Notably in sixth position is a stretch of the popular tourist route along the coastal N-340 between the Axarquian towns of La Herradura and Maro.

This widely used stretch of road is commonly used by bikers on a weekend, attracted by its hundreds of corners and spectacularly rugged views over the Mediterranean.

This factor however has caused it to see seven accidents in the past three years, six of which suffering severe injuries and one fatality.

The DGT, in conjunction with the RACE’s findings, revealed their 2020 figures and have shown a slight increase in fatalities in the Malaga province compared to 2019.

In total, there were 28 deaths on the roads of Malaga last year, seven more than in 2019 despite the travel restrictions put in place for the COVID-19 pandemic.

This figure also shows a dramatic increase since 2018, when 19 deaths were recorded, however is significantly less than 2017 when figures spiked at 37.

Andalucia as a whole recorded 184 total fatalities of traffic accidents, 13 less than in 2019.