The Directorate General of Traffic launches a control campaign on alcohol and drugs in these days before Christmas, in which a large number of meetings are held with family and friends in which alcohol is usually present, to strengthen surveillance on the risk of the sum of alcohol and/or drugs consumption and driving.
For this reason, from today until next Sunday, December 22, the agents of the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard (ATGC), as well as the local police who join the campaign, will establish different control points on all types of roads, as well as in the urban centers, 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.
During the campaign carried out last year, in Cantabria a total of 4,815 alcohol tests were carried out, of which 75 (1.5%) were positive, while of the 112 drug tests, 46 - 41% - were positive.
From the Provincial Traffic Headquarters, they point out that campaigns such as this continue to be important, since the consumption of this type of substances remains, year after year, one of the three main risk factors in traffic accidents, both in mortals and in accidents with victims, having been present in 13% of traffic accidents with victims in 2023 and, as a concurrent factor, in 26% of those who registered fatalities, with 246 associated cases.
As can be seen from the Report 2023 on Toxicological Findings in Road Traffic Accident Victims, prepared by the National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences with the collaboration of the National Road Safety Observatory, more than half (53.6%) of the drivers who died on the road in 2023, who were subjected to autopsy and toxicological analysis tested positive for alcohol, drugs or psychodrugs, alone or in combination, a percentage that one more year increases compared to the previous year (+0.8% compared to the data of 2022).
Although it is true that Spanish society has made great progress in raising awareness of the risks involved in the consumption of alcohol and/or drugs at the wheel, the aforementioned figures show that this type of campaign is still essential to strengthen the idea that, on the road, the only safe rate is 0.0%.
In Cantabria, the Provincial Headquarters has invited to join this special campaign the 18 municipalities in the region whose local police have alcohol and/or drug detection equipment: Santander, Torrelavega, Castro, Camargo, Piélagos, Astillero, Noja, Reinosa, Laredo, Suances, Santoña, Medio Cudeyo, Santa María de Cayón, Bezana, Ribamontán al Mar, Reocín, Colindres and Comillas.