transportation

Panama’s deadliest roads

LEVI CRUZ/LA PRENSA

fatal crossings: Residents of communities along the Panama-Colón highway are often struck while crossing the road, making it one of the country’s deadliest routes.1089739

Statistics published recently by transportation authorities gives credence to what drivers of the Panama-Colón highway all along: it’s one of the most dangerous roads in the country.

Accidents on the highway, accessed by a bridge on-ramp in San Miguelito, have claimed 31 lives so far this year, according to statistics from the Autoridad de Tránsito y Transporte Terrestre (ATTT).

Other deadly roadways in and around the capital include Avenida Domingo Díaz, where eight people have died this year, and Avenida José Agustín Arango, with four fatalities.

Teófilo Moreno, deputy director of Operaciones de Tránsito (DOP) of the Policía Nacional, explained that the high incidence of fatal accidents on the Panama-Colón highway has much to do with the many communities and villages along the route, whose residents cross daily from one side to another.

Additionally, high rates of speeding and driver overconfidence contributes significantly to creating dangerous conditions on the road.

Data points to Avenida Balboa as the scene of most non-fatal traffic accidents in the city. Those findings didn’t surprise transportation authorities, however, given that the six-lane road stretches for miles without a single pedestrian bridge.

Vía España, for its part, is known as the site of a great number of minor crashes and pile-ups, particularly where the road passes through the community of Río Abajo. ATTT officials attribute many of these accidents to the many left-hand turns along the route.

And if you want to avoid getting a ticket, avoid speeding on Avenida José Agustn Arango, in the community of Juan Díaz, where police have handed out over 16,000 fines for speed violations this year, following a spate of fatal collisions in the area.

“This is an attempt to raise awareness,” said DOP official Moreno, referring to the number of speeding tickets. “It’s the drivers who are the ones who putting their lives and those of their families’ at risk.” Moreno said drivers tend to go heavy on the accelerator despite knowing that road conditions within the city are not the best. So far this year, 300 people have died as a result of traffic accidents, both on roads in the capital and the Pan-American and Panama-La Chorrera highways, where 95 and 11, respectively, have lost their lives.