The most dangerous black spots in Spain: be careful when driving through them

Spain’s roads are quite safe, and their upkeep generally makes driving on them fairly comfortable and secure. Even so, there are stretches where you need to drive carefully, because a large number of accidents occur there, a figure that exceeds the average for other sections or roads.

These sections share very similar basic characteristics. For example, they are national roads with a single carriageway, with just one lane in each direction. They are also routes that carry more than 2,000 vehicles per day. In total, there are just over 3,000 kilometres of roads with these characteristics, representing 12.2% of the total State Road Network. These black spots are included in the EuroRAP study.

This study, which covers the whole of Europe, assesses state-owned roads that pose a considerable risk to driving.

Aragon, the autonomous community with the most black spots on its roads

Aragon is the autonomous community with the most black spots on its road network, with up to 35% of its kilometres being more dangerous than the national average.

Behind Aragon come Catalonia and Asturias, with 16% of their roads classified as dangerous stretches. However, the autonomous community with the worst black spots, including the one with the dubious honour of being the most dangerous, is Galicia.

The N-642 road, from the junction with the N-640 to the junction with the N-634, in the province of Lugo, is 8.2 kilometres long and records an average of 1.3 accidents a year. The other two problem spots in Galicia are the N-541, on the stretch from Sacos to the junction with the PO-224, which is 11.8 km long. The 10.5 km of the N-640 in Lugo, between Monterroso and the province of Pontevedra, is another of the black spots to avoid in Galicia.

Catalonia

In Catalonia there is a dangerous stretch on the N-230 road in Lleida. It runs for 12.1 kilometres from Vilaller to the boundary between the provinces of Lleida and Huesca. In Girona there is a 62.2-kilometre stretch of the N-260 from Ripoll to the junction with the N-152. On this stretch, 7.7 accidents occur a year. These points are ranked as the second and third black spots on this list of black spots on roads.

Aragon

The N-330 road, on the stretch from the junction with the HU-332 to Boltaña, which is 11.7 kilometres long, is also considered a black spot where extra caution is required.

Castilla-La Mancha

In Toledo is found the sixth most dangerous black spot. It is a stretch of the N-301 up to the boundary between the provinces of Huesca and Toledo, 13.2 kilometres long.

Castile and León

León has a 10.8-kilometre stretch of the N-621 road, between Cistierna and Verdiago, and another in Soria, on the N-234, 10.2 kilometres long between Navaleno and the province of Burgos.

Murcia

In this autonomous community there is a 7.2-kilometre stretch running from La Unión to Portman, which records 0.7 accidents a year, a very high rate for such a short distance.

In addition to these problem areas, the study also lists the 10 roads with high or very high risk. In this case, the roads named are the N-420 (235 kilometres), N-234 (228 km), N-260 (221.4 km), N-330 (167.4 km), N-230 (142.6 km), N-211 (136.6 km), N-630 (133.1 km), N-621 (130.2 km), N-620 (107.7 km) and N-6 (87.6 km).

Caution is needed on every journey, but when travelling along these stretches it is best to be more alert, since they record a higher number of accidents than other points, and it is better not to become part of these statistics.