2 April 2004

MADRID – Two motorists died Friday in a head-on collision in Madrid after one was said to be "driving like a kamikaze", police said.

The 28-year-old driver of a Renault Clio crashed into another car while driving the wrong way along the M-30 road north from the city.

The man was killed immediately and firefighters spent 20 minutes getting his body out of the wreckage because the car was so badly damaged.

The other victim, aged 41, was driving the other way along  the road when his white Peugeot 206 was struck by the Renault.

Medics spent 35 minutes trying to save the life of the older driver without success.

A spokesman for the emergency services in Madrid said the younger driver "seemed to be driving as if he was a kamikaze".

The accident happened in the early hours of Friday.

The government has recently targeted dangerous driving in Spain, introducing a variety of measures to stop drink-driving and speeding – the main causes of fatal accidents.

A graphic government advertising campaign currently showing on Spanish television and also on the radio, warns of the dangers of not wearing seat-belts and speeding.

Spain still has one of the worst records in Europe for fatal road accidents.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news