“Intelligent” road plan

In a bid to try and encourage drivers to respect the speed limits in Majorca and reduce the high number of road deaths, the Council of Majorca yesterday unveiled a plan to build “intelligent” roads. Using the very latest technology, intelligent roads will be able to alert drivers to the fact they are driving too fast and the first of Majorca's roads to have the state-of-the art improvements will be the Palma to Manacor road, one of the island's worst black spots. The road is also to be widened so that the number of traffic lanes can be increased. The intelligent road scheme involves fibre optic cables being installed along stretches of the island's roads. These fibre optic cables will be able to continually supply all the information necessary about the flow of traffic at any one time. The system will also be able to keep a check on the speed of vehicles and as soon as a driver breaks the speed limit, new warnings will light up alerting the driver to the fact he is going too fast and breaking the law. Accompanying the fibre optic cables along Majorca's intelligent roads will also be a network of surveillance cameras and all the information gathered by the fibre optic cables and the cameras, will be filtered back to a main data base and control centre in Palma. President of the Council of Majorca, Maria Antonia Munar, believes that all of Majorca's busy roads should be fitted with the new technology. Munar is currently preparing the Council of Majorca for eventually taking over control of the island's roads. Her principal aim is to increase road safety and get rid of all the island's black spots. The Council has already given the green light to projects to improve the roads between Villafranca and Porreras and the stretch of road between Sa Pobla and the Albufera Natural Park, one of the island's worst black spots.