Green Lines to Reduce Speed

Serving as a trial before potentially being implemented across the country, Castilla y León will be one of the first places in Spain to adopt a number of new systems aimed at reducing road traffic incidents.

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One of the first tests to be carried out will be on the CL-615 and CL-613, where green lines are being painted along the edge of the road. Having already been tested in parts of Sweden and the Netherlands, it has been proven that by using different colours on the road gives drivers a different special impression of the road and, in particular, induces drivers to moderate their speed accordingly, slowing down as the road appears to narrow.

The CL-615 is a 92 kilometre stretch of conventional road linking Palencia with Guardo, which is considered to be an area of high risk. Since 2011 to today, 14 people have lost their lives on the stretch of road, another 33 were seriously injured and 139 more people hospitalised due to road traffic incidents. The road has a hazard index rating of 12.37.

The CL-613 runs from Palencia to Sahagún and is a single carriageway road with traffic flowing in both directions, with long straight sections and numerous curves. This 58 kilometre stretch of road has seen 2 people killed, 30 seriously injured and 55 other people hospitalised since 2011. The hazard index rating for this road is 30.13.

Although it is believed that no explanation is necessary, the roads will also have informative signs indicating that the roads are of a special format, and that they may be subject to intensified speed checks and controls. In fact, the Guardia Civil will indeed focus more attention on these areas, not necessarily to try to catch more speeders, but to assess whether the markings do have an impact on reducing the speed of vehicles.