Crashes with injuries on AP-7 up 28% since toll removal

Catalonia's main highway, the AP-7, has seen a spike in accidents and traffic since tolls were lifted in September 2021. 

The road recorded nearly 500 accidents with injuries between January and August this year, 28% more than before tolls were lifted. The number is also 3% higher than the same period last year. 

Serious injury accidents have also increased, with 26 so far this year, the highest number in five years. Fatal accidents, however, are at their lowest level in five years. 

Traffic on this road, which crosses Catalonia from north to south, has also increased since tolls were lifted. 

This year there were a total of 5,000 hours of traffic, exceeding by 50% those recorded in 2019, the last year with tolls and normality on the roads before Covid-19.

The average length of traffic jams has also increased in recent years, from 3.28 kilometers five years ago to 3.53 kilometers this year. 

The Catalan Traffic Service says the increase in accidents and traffic is due to the removal of tolls, as the volume of cars on the road has increased.

In fact, the average number of cars on the road in Martorell, one of its central points, has increased from 80,000 in 2019 to 106,000 this year. 

According to the traffic service, while accidents and traffic have increased on the AP-7, they have decreased in the alternative roads, which were frequent when the AP-7 was paid tolls.