Figures from the traffic directorate (DGT) indicate that just over 50% of all road deaths in the Balearics in 2023 were those of motorcyclists - 21 out of 41.
In Mallorca specifically, there were 14 motorcyclist fatalities, three of which were on the MA-13 Palma-Alcudia road. Motorway for much of its length, the final sections into Alcudia are single lane. Two of the three motorcyclist deaths occurred only some one hundred metres apart in the space of two weeks last summer. The third fatality was in the Marratxi area.
The MA-13 had the worst fatal accident record for motorcyclists last year, and it is the final part of the road which over the years has been the greatest concern.
When the motorway from Inca was extended in 2005, the original intention had been for it to go as far as Alcudia. Instead it ended at Sa Pobla because of pressure from residents and Alcudia town hall opposed to the expropriation of land which would have been required.
After the elections in 2023, it was reported that the new administration at the Council of Mallorca was looking at a project to extend the motorway to Alcudia. The Council's president, Llorenç Galmés, responded to these reports by saying there was no plan to do so.
Of other roads which claimed the lives of motorcyclists, the MA-10 in the Tramuntana Mountains was one of them. There was the one fatality in Banyalbufar, which was where a protest against illegal bike races on the road was staged in October. A 60 kilometre per hour speed limit is in operation along most of this road, a measure that was taken to try and address the problems caused by these bike races.