Firemen at work - and a good thing, too!

JIMENA This photo was taken on Friday morning when a delivery lorry popped its brakes as it was parked at the furniture store opposite the petrol station and rolled down towards the main road (and the aforesaid petrol station!). Fortunately, a street light post got in the way and stopped it. The firemen are removing the post. The driver ran after his lorry but wasn't able to clamber in until the vehicle stopped. Poor man was not in a good state but luckily there was no major accident nor was anyone hurt. The firemen had to spray the road as there was a diesel fuel leakage.

Little rubbish truck looking for a job

JIMENA (TioJimeno) The little rubbish truck smack up against the wall at the employment office this morning. It apparently slid down an incline ... as far as we know, no-one was hurt, but they might have to find another job. As we write, some seven accidents on the roads have been reported so far. The first rains are not a time to speed.

Are the roads the cause of accidents in the rain?

(Photo: TJD/Fede)

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR Every year, the first Autumn rains are the reason behind a series of accidents on the A-405 (and just about any other road). This year is no exception. There were at least two yesterday, one of which had a 56 year old woman teken to hospital, fortunately not very seriously injured. Her car turned over and she was trapped, having to be cut out of it. But only an hour later, another car turned over a few kilometers along the same road. Since it began raining on Friday we have heard of at least three more accidents; there were probably several more. In the past we have said that the oil and grease accumulated in the pores of the road surface rise to the top, pushed up by water - and no doubt this is part of the reason. The other is speed. Changes in weather in this part of the world happen almost instantaneously but it appears drivers don't adapt fast enough. And then there are those who got their licence in the summer, buy a powerful car but have no experience - though we hear of one expat with plenty of it, but wrote off his car over the weekend...

CAUTION: Slippery when wet

(Photo: Philip Heinzl) Yesterday

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR Unlike the Bon Jovi album of the same name, this is a serious warning. The experienced driver will tell you that local roads are at their most dangerous with the first of the season's rain. The oil that has accumulated at the bottom of the pores on the road during the dry summer rises to the top and is displaced by water. Basic Physics says that oil and water do not mix - nor do speed and rain. The inexperienced -or totally stupid- driver is the one that flashes past you on a dangerous bend in the road, and is probably the one whose car just smashed into the railings a little further on. (We do not want to have to report your accident, Dear Reader, so please be careful. Ed.)

Car takes out bus shelter

(Photo: JimenaPulse)

At about 9pm this evening, a car hit the bus shelter behind N.S. de Los Angeles primary school with a tremendous crash, totally destroying it. The driver left the scene, but a short while later he approached the Local Police to report the accident. He returned to the place in time to see the bomberos clean up, while the police redirected traffic. Fortunately, there are no injuries to report.

Nasty accident on A-405 on Sunday

There was a accident on the A-405 road just past  Marchenilla. Three cars and a trailer were involved but fortunately no major casualties were reported, though a lady had whiplash and a girl had injuries to her arm and leg. From information gathered at the scene, it was caused by excessive speed (on one of the road's black spots) and a driver not keeping his distance. Witnesses saw one car, which had been headed for Jimena, spin several times before being left facing the opposite direction. Some reports say that the Guardia and the ambulance took some forty minutes to arrive.

63% of fatal accidents in Campo happen here

(Agencies / photo: EuropaSur) Statistics show that the most dangerous stretch of road in the Campo de Gibraltar is the N-340 between Algeciras and Tarifa (See map below). These 46 kms represent over six of every ten fatal accidents on the region's roads, according to figures from 2008 and 2009. Of the last 14 traffic deaths in the area, nine occurred there. This is most notorious black spot in the province, too, where most accidents are head on collisions between cars and lorries, usually on overtaking with limited frontal visibility, and end up on the wrong side of the road.>

Several accidents on A-405 road

(Photo: illustration only) We published this at 3.30 this afternoon: "We have just received notice that a major accident happened this morning at a truck exit on the road just beyond Estación involving a lorry and at least three cars. We were unable to get close to the accident site but will update as soon as we can." Apparently there were a total of three separate ones, all on the same stretch known as Curva del Almendril, a notoriously dangerous bend about half way between the old Jimenaflor flower nursery and the polo grounds at Marchenilla. One of the accidents, involved a foreigner who was taken to the hospital, but we haven't yet been able to ascertain whom.