Due to the beginning of the summer season and the increase in road trips during the months of July and August, the Directorate-General for Traffic has prepared a special device to ensure the safety of users who travel on the road network.
It is expected that during those two months there will be 1,916,000 long-distance trips on the roads of Asturias, 95 million throughout the country. It is 1.75% more than the movements that were recorded last summer and that then exceeded those counted in the summer of 2019. The expected monthly distribution is 45.6 million trips during the month of July, and 49.3 million in August. Of which 890,000 are expected in Asturias in July and 1,026,000 in August.
As has been usual in recent years, the departure and return of the holidays is done in a staggered way and in shorter periods, making them coincide on numerous occasions with a weekend.
For this reason and to cater for the greater number of people who start their holidays at the weekend, and who choose the vehicle as a means of transport, the DGT has established special traffic regulation and control devices during all the weekends of the summer period, intensifying them during the first weekends of each month and giving rise to so-called departure or return operations.
END TO THE USE OF TRIANGLES ON HIGHWAY AND FREEWAYS
One of the novelties of this summer, is that from July 1, the use of hazard pre-signalling triangles on motorways and motorways in case of immobilisation of the vehicle due to accident or breakdown is exempt. Its use remains mandatory when these circumstances occur in conventional ways.
The DGT has published an instruction containing this exception, motivated mainly by the following issues:
- The high number of people who died on high-capacity roads (highways and highways) in recent years. The average number of dead pedestrians hit after getting out of the vehicle in the last five years has been 22 people nationwide.
- Because of the traffic conditions that occur on highways and highways in which there is a high traffic intensity and high speed.
- Because the accident data on this type of road where a traffic jam has occurred and where an immobilised vehicle existed show that passing through the roadside, remaining on the roadside, trying to repair a fault or even, the placement and subsequent removal of the hazard pre-signalling triangles significantly increase the risk of traffic jams.
- There are already countries like the United Kingdom that have also eliminated its use in fast tracks and other countries are studying it.
Taking into account all these reasons, and bearing in mind that the placement of the hazard pre-signaling triangles is not feasible on motorways and motorways because it seriously compromises the safety of people, having to walk along the road, its placement is exempt and therefore will not be a reason for denunciation exclusively on these fast tracks.
The instruction published today will be null and void on January 1, 2026, when it will be mandatory for all drivers to carry the V16 signal in the vehicle, which is the one that will put the definitive end to the danger pre-signaling triangles.
SAFEGUARDING ROAD SAFETY
In order to safeguard the safety of road users, the operation has the full availability of both human resources (agents of the Civil Guard Traffic Group, official personnel of the Traffic Management Centers, helicopter patrols and personnel responsible for maintaining equipment and installing measures on the road) and technicians (fixed radars and speed control mobiles, as well as helicopters, drones, cameras and camouflaged vans to control the use of mobiles and seatbelts) available to the DGT.
In order to encourage traffic in the most sensitive areas during special operations and on weekends, measures will be adopted such as the installation of reversible and additional rails with cones and beaconing during the times of greatest traffic flow and the establishment of alternative itineraries. Likewise, work on the roads will be paralysed, the holding of sports tests and other events involving the occupation of the road will be limited and the movement of trucks in general and those carrying dangerous goods will be restricted, as well as special transports in certain sections, dates and times.
The DGT always recommends, before starting the trip, planning it by the safest route to avoid unforeseen events and inform itself of the state of the roads.
From the Twitter accounts @informacionDGT and @DGTes or the news bulletins on radio and television, as well as on the phone 011, the traffic situation is reported in real time and any incidents that may exist.
All the established device as well as tips can be consulted in dgt.es.
SUMMER DEVICE IN ASTURIAS
With regard to traffic management and to facilitate road mobility, the Provincial Traffic Headquarters of Asturias, in anticipation of the high number of trips this summer, has implemented the following actions:
- Implementation of a Generic Signage Plan to report the high occupancy on the beaches.
- Agreement with the State Road Demarcation in Asturias, to provide through the variable messaging panels of this, information related to the occupation of accesses and parking spaces to beaches.
- Signage in the Variable Messaging Panels of the A-8 of the filling of the parking lot of the beach of Rodiles, for which, and in view of the experience of previous years, the agreement reached with the City of Villaviciosa has been renewed.
- Elimination of the third lane of the A-8 among the PPKK. 356+200 to 358+200 growing sense (stretch coinciding with the exit of the Villaviciosa tunnel) during the weekends and holidays of July and August, as well as the first weekend of September.
- Signaling Plan for the management of access to the Playa de la Vega.
- Restriction of access to the CO-4, except authorized vehicles, between 07:30 and 21:00 hours.
- Dynamic signaling through variable message panels of the main traffic variables.
- Paralysis of the works that affect the roads on all roads to minimize the affection to the traffic during the days of the operation out-return of summer.