The traffic directorate in the Balearics is increasing police controls of illegal motorbike races in the Tramuntana Mountains and will also be using drones to detect offenders on the road heading to the Puig Major.
Soller councillor Carlos Darder says that "Tráfico" has verified that the number of infringements has decreased at weekends but has risen on other days, especially in the evenings. "This is causing ever greater annoyance to residents as well as to other road users."
Complaints about these races go back years. Residents and town halls have repeatedly called for greater and constant Guardia Civil presence. With the exception of specific operations, however, the problems have persisted. Some of the bike riders, especially in the summer, are from abroad.
Darder believes that the use of drones is a good idea, "but it is during the week when there needs to be more control". Last year, the Council of Mallorca introduced a 60 kilometre per hour speed limit on the main road from Andratx to Pollensa, but this is regularly ignored.
The excessive noise is just one complaint that residents have, and they argue that, as the main road (the MA-10) is within the Tramuntana natural area as well as the World Heritage Site, the motorbike races can be banned and offenders punished for reasons other than breaches of road safety. They cite environmental and ethnographic reasons that are inherent to the mountains' status.