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Dragon's teeth Spain Spain Trialling “Dragon's Teeth” To Reduce Accidents On Pedestrian Crossings Spain News

Spain’s Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (Mitma) is putting together new road marking regulations, with two of them being aimed at improving road safety and reducing the number of accidents on pedestrian crossings.

To start with, an experimental section of road will be used to test the new markings. This section of road will be on the N-122, between km293 652 and 294,356 in Nava de Roa, in the province of Burgos.

The purpose of trialling the new markings is so that data can be collected and analysed, as to whether or not the new designs do actually improve road safety. If the results are positive, the markings will be rolled out on all roads across the country.

One of the new road markings that are being trialled is called ‘Dragon's Teeth’. These will be triangular painted markings that will be positioned on the approach to pedestrian crossings. They will give the effect that the road is narrowing, thus encouraging drivers to slow down.

The pedestrian crossings will also be freshly painted to improve visibility. ‘Broken edge lines’ will also be added at the lead up to the crossing, with the intention of making drivers aware that a danger area is approaching.

Mitma, the Spanish road safety association said, “the perception that one has of road markings when driving on the road is very different from how they look on paper. In addition, the interpretation by each user is very subjective.

Data released by Fernando Grande-Marlaska, the Minister of the Interior, shows that this summer has seen the lowest number of road fatalities since records began. Figures show that sadly 191 people lost their lives on Spain’s roads during July and August.

Grande-Marlaska, spoke at a press conference where he was joined by Isabel Goicoechea, the undersecretary of the department, as well as Pere Navarro, the General Director of Traffic and José Ignacio Criado, the chief general of the Civil Guard Traffic Group.

He warned that "The statistics are less bad than we expected: the figure of 191 deaths registered this summer is the lowest since there are records, but we must not use this data to launch a triumphant message, we cannot forget that, during these summer months, every day three citizens have lost their lives on our roads.

According to Spain’s DGT traffic authorities latest annual review, Spain saw 22 per cent fewer deaths in 2020 compared to the previous year, due to restrictions put in place to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Figures show that there were a total of 1,370 traffic-related deaths on Spanish roads in 2020, 385 less than the previous year’s figure of 1,755. The figure for people having to be hospitalised as a result of a traffic accident was 6,681.

Source

https://www.mitma.gob.es/el-ministerio/sala-de-prensa/noticias/jue-02092021-1753
https://twitter.com/mitmagob/status/1433461519233212418
http://www.surinenglish.com/national/202109/07/this-dragon-teeth-could-20210907122846.html

Image Credit: Mitma