News
A wrong-way car causes a serious accident after a chase on the M-40
Early Friday morning brought scenes of extreme tension on the M-40 after a car driving in the wrong direction caused a serious accident during a police chase. The crash occurred shortly before five in the morning near exit 19A and required a large emergency operation on one of Madrid’s busiest roads.
According to the first reports, the vehicle was fleeing from the Policía Nacional when it ended up crashing head-on into a van. The collision left four people injured, three of them seriously, and partially halted traffic for several hours on Madrid’s ring road.
The driver of the car, a 34-year-old man, had to be intubated by Samur medical staff before being transferred to Hospital 12 de Octubre. The two women travelling with him were also injured and were evacuated to different Madrid hospitals with various injuries. The van driver, aged around 45, was transferred in a serious condition to Hospital La Paz.
The force of the impact also required the intervention of the Bomberos del Ayuntamiento de Madrid to rescue the drivers trapped inside the vehicles. The area was completely surrounded by ambulances, police patrols and emergency teams while the injured were stabilised and the crashed cars were removed.
The incident once again puts the focus on safety on Madrid’s major ring roads, especially during the night and early morning, when speeding and chases considerably increase the risk of serious accidents. The M-40, used daily by thousands of drivers, also concentrates a large part of travel between neighbourhoods and metropolitan municipalities.
Although traffic eventually recovered hours later, the accident once again disrupted the routine of infrastructure that is key to the city. Tailbacks, closed access roads and diversions marked the first hours of the morning at one of the most sensitive points in Madrid’s road network.
The M-40 has become one of the major barometers of mobility in Madrid. Any serious incident on this road quickly affects journeys, traffic and entry times into the city. This early-morning accident is another reminder of the extent to which road safety, mobility and urban pressure constantly coexist in a capital that practically never stops moving.