The traffic directorate (DGT) has referred to speed data in maintaining that there are no illegal motorbike races on the MA-10 main road in the Tramuntana Mountains. The directorate says that data collected from traffic controls indicate that vehicles do not (in general) exceed the speed limit.
The DGT explains that during June and July a laborious study of speeds and controls of excess speeds was carried out in order to know the hours and days when alleged violations were occurring.
In June, according to DGT records, vehicles travelled at an average of 35 kilometres per hour. Furthermore, in a check carried out on the third Sunday of June, only 228 of a total of 2,940 vehicles exceeded the speed limit.
The directorate concludes that, given the low level of non-compliance with speed regulations, the problem with bikes in the mountains is one of noise, "probably due to acceleration or similar actions".
Residents have demanded the installation of fixed radars along the 112 kilometres of the MA-10. But the DGT argues that this is not the solution. "What needs to be controlled is the noise." To this end, it says that all relevant authorities are going to be involved so that this control becomes a reality sooner rather than later.
As to the recent protest by residents when they blocked the road in Banyalbufar without permission, the DGT stresses that non-compliance cannot be combated with a different type of non-compliance.