The Directorate General of Traffic launches a new special operation tomorrow at 3 p.m. on the occasion of the bridge on 15 August that will last until 24 hours on Sunday 18. For these five days, 8,290,000 long-distance movements are planned along all the roads of the national geography, 183,000 of them in Asturias.
During this long weekend, in addition to the trips of departure and return due to the change of fortnight, they will join those that are made to populations of the coast and beaches or areas of second residence because it is a few days of leisure and weekend rest within the typically holiday month that is August. Due to the festivities that are celebrated in a large part of the country, short-distance travel will also increase.
For this reason, the DGT insists on drivers taking extreme road safety measures and, most especially, not driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. Therefore, the preventive measures of speed, alcohol and drug control by the agents of the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard will be intensified, which will be extended throughout next week coinciding with the special campaign of surveillance and control of alcohol and drugs that, both the agents of the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard, and the local police who join it, will carry out from next Monday 19 and until Sunday 25, both on roads and in urban centers, with the objective of raising awareness about the risk that the sum of alcohol and/or drug consumption and driving entails.
CIRCULATION FORECASTS
The traffic forecasts prepared by the DGT contemplate that in the first hours of the afternoon of Wednesday 14, mainly between 16 and 23 hours, there will be significant movements of vehicles that will cause high intensities and problems of circulation in the exits of the large cities, as well as in the main roads of access to the tourist areas of the coast, second residence and towns at parties.
On Thursday 15 in the morning (from 9 to 14 hours) will continue the intense outbound traffic of the urban centers, as well as in late morning destination areas, which will add to the usual short-distance access to beaches and festivities in numerous towns throughout the national geography.
During the morning of Friday the 16th, the usual movements of entry and exit of the large urban centers will occur as it is a working day, although of lesser magnitude since this day is included in the festive period of August 15. Already in the afternoon, movements will be generated in the direction of departure whose main destinations will be the coastal tourist areas, rest areas and populations in parties.
On Saturday 17, especially between 10 and 13 hours, there will be movements with high intensities of traffic in the direction of departure from the large urban centers to tourist areas of coast and rest, generated both by those who start their holidays in the second half of August and by those who travel on the occasion of the weekend.
Finally, during the morning of Sunday, August 18, the circulation will be conflictive in the short-distance routes on roads that communicate populations of the coast and in the accesses to beach areas. Already in the afternoon, especially between 18 and 23 hours, the return will begin both those who have enjoyed this festive period, and those who end their holidays of the first fifteen of August so that high intensities of traffic and circulation problems will be presented in the main roads of communication that channel all the return movement from the tourist areas of coast, rest and second residences to the accesses of the large urban centers, being able to prolong this return until late at night.
SURVEILLANCE CAMPAIGN
Throughout these holidays, in which many patron saint’s parties are celebrated throughout the Spanish geography, the controls of alcohol and drugs to drivers will be intensified, which will be extended during the week of August 19th to 25th with the celebration of a new campaign of surveillance and control of the consumption of this type of substances.
For all of us to enjoy these days of leisure and rest it is important to insist that alcohol and drugs can never go together with putting themselves at the helm of any type of vehicle. Therefore, in order to advance in the prevention of road accidents, the agents of the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard (ATGC) will establish different control points on all types of roads and at any time of the day with the aim of preventing people who have ingested alcohol or have consumed drugs from circulating on the roads.