On Friday, work started on installing seven new traffic cameras on the MA-10 main road in the Tramuntana Mountains.
According to the traffic directorate (DGT), these cameras will be for monitoring traffic violations - negligent/reckless driving, overtaking where prohibited. They are not speed cameras, the DGT saying that speed will continue to be monitored by mobile radars at unspecified points along the road.
Indignats MA-10 is a residents' group that has been campaigning for years to stop illegal races in the Tramuntana. As well as road safety, the noise caused by these races (mainly motorbikes) has been chief among the group's concerns.
The new cameras are designed to combat the illegal races, but the group insists that the cameras are not what was agreed at a meeting held two months ago. "They have decided to install cameras without sound level meters or speed radars as we were promised at the meeting at the Council of Mallorca. These cameras will only record images and that's it."
The group has previously been angered by certain statements made by the DGT, one having been that the average speed on the MA-10 was only 35 km/h. The residents are therefore demanding the "immediate resignation" of the DGT director Francisca Ramis: "They are spending public money but without solving or combating the problem."
At the meeting two months ago, the group believed that agreements had finally been reached between the relevant bodies - the DGT, the Council of Mallorca and the Guardia Civil. But issues persist. The DGT points out that there are different responsibilities. The DGT doesn't have the power to issue sanctions for excessive noise. This is something for the Council and the Balearic government, which didn't have representatives at the meeting.