Alarm on the Paseo Colón: How safe are Mallorca's promenades after nightfall?

Alarm on the Paseo Colón: How safe are Mallorca's promenades after nightfall?

The morning after still smelled of burnt rubber. At 5:30 a.m. a screech of tires tore through the calm on the Paseo Colón in Can Picafort: flashing lights, police officers, a risky escape and an officer who swerved at the last moment — minor injuries, a lot of shock, no fatalities. For people who had just put their coffee on the windowsill or were sitting on the first buses, it was still a wake-up call.

The scene: promenade becomes a danger

Eyewitnesses report a noticeable smell of cannabis and a driver with aggressive driving behavior. Sudden acceleration, threatening gestures, the car sounded like a foreign object along the otherwise quiet seaside promenade. During the day families, sunseekers and older residents mingle here; at night physical barriers that protect residential and recreational areas are often missing. In the early morning hours people jump aside, guests retreat protectively into hotel forecourts, and the usual sounds — seagulls, lamplight, the clatter of chairs — are drowned out by sirens.

What is often neglected in the public debate

The quick verdict is often: speeders, possibly intoxicated, simply flawed individuals. Similar episodes have occurred in other towns and raised the same questions, as documented in Nighttime Attack on the Paseo Marítimo: How Safe Is Palma’s Party Mile Really?

But three little-noticed aspects lie beneath that. First: rental cars and changing driver profiles. In a seasonal town like Can Picafort new drivers sit behind the wheel every month — short-term renters, young visitors, drivers unfamiliar with the area. Minimum age, brief instructions or mandatory notices about local traffic rules are rarely binding.

Second: the spatial design of the promenade. The Paseo Colón is planned as a social space, not as a parking place for risky driving maneuvers. During the day pedestrian and vehicle areas merge; at night the clear separation is missing. Permanently installed bollards, retractable barriers or at least temporary closures during peak times would be architectural measures that have so far been insufficiently considered.

Third: the equipment and priorities of the police at night. Forces are limited, shifts are long, and priorities are often set by multiple simultaneous incidents — beach parties, noise complaints, minor thefts. Stopping risky driving behavior early is not always possible, especially when the perpetrator is in a rental car whose owner cannot be reached on site.

Pragmatic solutions: What Santa Margalida could tackle now

Concrete, actionable steps can be derived from this incident. In the short term, mobile checkpoints during the night and early morning hours and increased alcohol and drug testing at critical points would be sensible measures. A faster communication chain between police, hotels and car rental companies — for example an SMS alert system for suspicious vehicles — could help contain dangers and these could be sensible measures for the Santa Margalida municipal council to implement.

In the medium term visible structural measures should be considered: permanently installed bollards at sensitive access points, retractable barriers at the main entrances to the Paseo Colón, or temporary traffic closures during the high season. CCTV cameras at selected points not only provide deterrence but also evidence for criminal proceedings, as shown by Playa de Palma at Night: Phone Tracking Catches Suspect — But What Does It Say About Our Safety?.

In the long term, education and responsibility are needed: multilingual information sheets at vehicle handover, mandatory short briefings by rental companies and stricter verification of identity and driving authorization. Incentives for rental companies to carry out responsible handovers — such as fines for violations or bonus models for good cooperation — could raise the threshold for risky behavior.

And what remains with the neighbors?

At the café bar, while the wind carries the sea onto the promenade, residents discuss: More police? More bollards? Or rather greater awareness among guests? The answer is not either-or. It needs technology and presence, but above all a shared awareness that a seaside promenade is not a racetrack. Night buses and subsidized taxi services at peak times could also reduce the number of vehicles — less traffic means less risk.

Conclusion: The incident in Can Picafort (see Persecución nocturna en Can Picafort: cuando los paseos turísticos se convierten en un peligro) was not a one-off spectacle but a symptom. As long as traffic space in holiday resorts is used flexibly and responsibility behind the wheel is often just an episode, the danger remains real. Authorities, rental companies, hotels and citizens must work together — so that the next morning is once again defined by the sound of the sea and not by the wail of sirens.