Provencio

1,248 kilometers are those that connect Puerto Real with Barcelona if we make the trip bordering the Mediterranean through the N-340. It is the longest road from Spainbut there is a much shorter one that, however, draws more attention. Joining two towns in Cuenca and Albacete is the N-301. And with just 23 kilometers it is the longest straight road in Spain. One that, curiously, is extremely dangerous if you don’t drive with your senses at full capacity. In a place in La-Mancha… This unique section is part of the aforementioned N-301 that connects Ocaña and Cartagena. However, in its fragment of La Mancha, the road has the particularity of being completely straight. Not a roundabout, not a slight curve: 23 kilometers of pure straight road that doesn’t even have a slight slope. If the ring road were not there, this straight would be even more boring It joins El Provencio in Cuenca and Minaya in Albacete, and that is where we must stop measuring. If the ring road did not exist, we would be talking about a straight line of 39 kilometers to La Roda. That area where Cuenca, Ciudad Real and Albacete coincide concentrates several sections that are straight lines that are as boring as they are long. The roads of Tomelloso, La Solana and Socuéllamos usually have these characteristics. From Socuéllamos, a 20 km And then there are some that are not perfect straight lines, but also look like they were drawn for high school technical drawing homework. Villacañas and its 21 kilometers Now, La Mancha is not the only one with roads of this style. In León we also find some organ sections, such as the Páramo and Tierra de Campos areas. 17 kilometers In Zaragoza we have the A-222 with a 17 kilometer straight between Belchite and Mediana de Aragón. And in Aragón another almost 20 kilometers of the A-68 between La Almunia de Doña Godina and Cariñena. This is more regular, but 20 km A danger. And if we said before that those 23 kilometers are dangerous If we do not drive completely clear it is because monotony can take over us. Although straight lines may seem safer because we do not have curves and visibility is usually very good, the lack of stimuli and the repetitiveness of the landscape have a series of associated dangers. For example: That monotony It can make us less responsive by increasing drowsiness. This affects the driver’s alert level and increases response time to unforeseen events. That an animal crosses, for example. As it is a boring journey, this lack of changes may cause us to go into a kind of autopilot. It is something that can cause our attention to divert to other elements that may be the road, the car, the cell phone or even our own thoughts, without being fully aware of what is happening. And, in addition, long straight lines can also encourage us to unconsciously run more. These are the dangers that are there, regardless of the conditions of the day, but if there is little traffic they are accentuated. that feeling of “nothing happens”. And if it is also night, the ‘highway hypnosis’ is added another risk: lack of visibility. In the end, the way to drive on these long and boring roads is how we should always do it, with all our senses focused on the route and following the instructions. recommendations basic breaks, ventilation of the car so as not to get ‘dull’ and changing drivers if possible. A toothpick on the side of Highway 10 Those 23 kilometers of the N-301 are striking, since we will spend a few good minutes “trapped” in the monotony of the journey, but the plain of La Mancha pales if we compare it with a United States that accumulates a large part of the straight-line roads in the world (logical if we take into account that its streets were drawn with square and square), an Australia with an endless desert or Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Highway 10 It extends along 1,480 kilometers of boring straight in the middle of the desert. It was built as a private road for the use and enjoyment of King Fahd, but is now public and has become a vital artery for transportation between western Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Go through the Rub’ al Khalithe one considered as the largest sand desert in the world and there is absolutely… nothing. Neither trees, nor geographical features nor a measly curve that gives some excitement to the trip. Only desert, an infinite horizon and a huge traffic of trucks that go between the cities and on both sides of the border. It is the maximum exponent of resistance for a driver who will have to deal with a ‘hypnosis of the road’ elevated to maximum power, with traffic that is heavy in some places and with the threat occasional camel crossing into its territory. And, aware of this, the Saudi Ministry of Transport and Logistics endowed the road with numerous signs that indicate direction, other warning signs, barriers and reflective markings on the pavement that are crucial if you cross the stretch when the sun goes down. I have crossed those 23 kilometers of the La Mancha plain on some occasions and found them extremely boring. I don’t want to imagine being a trucker who has to eat the almost 1,500 highways on Highway 10. In Xataka | In 1920, a woman painted a mile-long white line on a California highway. It was about to revolutionize road safety