The General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) has announced the start of a Special Campaign to control the alcohol rate and the presence of drugs in drivers, which will be carried out from today Monday 19 to Sunday 25 August throughout the national territory. This initiative is part of the Surveillance and Control Campaigns and Operations scheduled for the year 2024.
Alcohol is a determining factor in one third of fatal traffic accidents. Driving under the influence of this substance not only increases the risk of an accident by 2 to 15 times, but also aggravates mortality and the severity of injuries in the event of an accident. On the other hand, the use of drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, amphetamines and methamphetamines is also a recurrent and highly dangerous behavior among drivers.
As in previous campaigns, the Civil Traffic Guard will be responsible for carrying out checks on interurban roads. For urban roads, the Provincial Traffic Headquarters in Cantabria has requested the collaboration of the main municipalities of the region that have equipment for the detection of alcohol and/or drugs. In this way, 17 municipalities have joined this initiative.
During last year’s campaign, a total of 4,100 alcohol and drug checks were carried out in the region, of which 117 were positive, underscoring the importance of maintaining and strengthening this type of preventive action.
With this Special Campaign, the DGT reaffirms its commitment to road safety, stressing that the only safe rate of alcohol at the wheel is 0.0%. This joint action is expected to help save lives and raise public awareness of the risks of driving under the influence of psychoactive substances. In this way, this initiative aims to reduce road accidents and advance the Spanish Road Safety Strategy 2030, which promotes a policy of "zero tolerance" against risky behaviors.