In Spain, requests for road assistance fire after eclipse

Nlast August 12, the Iberian Peninsula was toasted with a rare total eclipse of the sun. And the phenomenon will have had a strong impact on road traffic in Spain.

The Real Automobile Club of Spain (RACE) noted a strong increase in calls with requests for road assistance within three hours of the eclipse of the sun. This will not be alien to the fact that there have been movements associated with the phenomenon that have been concentrated after the end of the phenomenon – with consequent changes in traffic from the usual standards.

According to a statement, the increase in calls was 77.3 percent compared to the same time period of the previous day. Situations related to the engine and mechanics, rims and tires and start-up, battery and electrical system represented 76 percent of assistance contacts started on the day of the eclipse.

These are data that point to the presence of more vehicles on the road and return simultaneously, apart from a slow traffic for several hours. It was also a day of high temperatures. It is because if the trip to observation points may have been more gradual throughout the day, the returns occurred mainly at the same time when the phenomenon ended.

Engine, cooling and mechanical situations represented 39.4 percent of requests for assistance over the day, while reporting situations where the vehicle “stopped” grew 40 percent compared to the previous day – which, says RACE, “reinforces the relationship between the increase of calls, the stops after the eclipse and the increased exposure of vehicles to conditions of slow traffic, heat and times of use higher than expected“.

There was also a large preponderance of incidents relating to wheels and tyres (19.2 percent of the total), which are “particularly relevant in days with more journeys, longer routes than usual or traffic through secondary roads and areas of access to observation points”.

There were also more transmission-related failures (64.7 percent more than on the same day of the previous week). The club talks about an evolution compatible with “stops, intermittent traffic and simultaneous returns”, with a lot of para-rangle and low speeds.

What about the accidents?

While reported vehicle health situations increased exponentially, accidents do not seem to have been a significant problem.

The data collected for the RACE show that represented 1.7 percent of total incoming calls. Numbers that, according to a statement, show that the eclipse “had more impact on care and damage than on sinisterity”.