Mijas demands the enclosure of the A-7 walkways due to repeated suicide attempts

The Mijas City Council has requested the Ministry of Transport to completely enclose the pedestrian overpasses located over the A-7 highway as it passes through the municipal area, due to repeated suicide attempts, the most recent being on March 31. The Council is asking the General Directorate of Roads to analyze measures that can be adopted on all pedestrian overpasses to prevent people from falling onto the roadway; and to implement urgent measures such as the full arching of the elevated crossings or raising the protection barriers to prevent such incidents. While definitive solutions are being implemented, the City Council is requesting that provisional emergency measures be adopted to reduce the risk. The Mijas City Council states that on March 11, prior to the latest incident, it sent a letter and a report from the Mijas Local Police to the Provincial Directorate of Roads in Málaga, expressly outlining the need to implement a suicide prevention system through the arching of the elevated pedestrian crossings located between exit 1014 and kilometer 1029 of the municipal area. The report warned of repeated episodes of individuals jumping from these overpasses with fatal consequences, as well as the added risk this poses for drivers on the highway and for the operability of emergency services. The Mijas City Council insists on the need to act urgently as each new episode causes significant social alarm, multiplies the suffering of the affected families, and exposes other drivers to added risks. "Mijas cannot accept that these infrastructures of the State Road Network lack the necessary protective measures for obvious reasons. To act now is not only advisable, it is necessary," states the Council in the letter sent to the Directorate of Roads.