The majority of social media users polled by a consulting firm feel unsafe traveling on highways in Mexico.

Only one-quarter of respondents said they feel safe traveling on the nation’s highways while 76% reported feeling unsafe, saying they had heard about a highway robbery on media outlets or social media or witnessed one.

GLAC Consulting, a risk management consultancy, also collected 6,063 social media references to highway robberies made between June 18 and the first few days of July.

The most-referenced case was a robbery of a semi-truck on the Puebla-Orizaba highway near Esperanza, Puebla, on June 19, while the second most-referenced case was the robbery of a Shell gas station on the México-Puebla highway on June 26.

More than 75% of the references to highway robberies were related to crimes targeting individual motorists, while the rest were related to robberies of trucks and buses.

However, the study collected more references to accidents and roadblocks on highways — 8,405 and 13,470 respectively — than to robberies.

There were also 231 social media complaints about protests by members of the Federal Police. Dissident officers have been occupying toll plazas to protest their transfer to the new National Guard.

The stretches of highway with the most reports of robberies were the Puebla-Orizaba highway near Esperanza, the México-Puebla highway near San Miguel Xoxtla, Puebla, and the México-Toluca highway near Cuajimalpa, Mexico City.

Source: El Financiero (sp)