Ciudad Real.- The delegate of the Government of Spain in Castilla-La Mancha, Francisco Tierraseca, accompanied by the provincial head of Traffic, Raquel García, and the captain of the Traffic Subsector of the Civil Guard, Pedro Puerta, has visited the control and surveillance post, located at kilometric point 177 of the N-401 in Peralvillo, on the occasion of the beginning of the new campaign of the DGT on distractions at the wheel, which will take place until October 15.
Tierraseca has called on drivers to “keep their attention while behind the wheel” after highlighting that, during the last campaign referring to distractions in 2022, in the province of Ciudad Aleña, 81 complaints were made for driving without hands, with helmets or headphones or manipulating navigators or other visual devices.
In this last campaign, carried out in September last year, agents of the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard controlled 6,254 vehicles on the roads of the province.
The government delegate has indicated that “the first cause of accidents at the wheel, with 31% of accidents occurring, is that of distractions”, followed by alcohol consumption and, thirdly, excessive speed. In this regard, Tierraseca has insisted that “the use of the conventional mobile phone during driving significantly increases the risk of collision, this risk being between four and six times higher than the risk in normal conditions”.
The delegate also pointed out that a distraction can cause negative consequences for road safety, among which “the exit from the road stands out, due to the loss of control of the car, followed by crashes or scopes and atrocities”.
For her part, the provincial head of Traffic has insisted that “the use of the mobile phone is one of the main distractions, not only in interurban, but urban roads”. In this regard, he thanked the collaboration, in this campaign, of the Local Police of several municipalities, because “it reinforces the call for prevention and precaution.”
In the previous campaign, Raquel García recalled, six municipalities with Local Police collaborated in the province, citing La Solana, Membrilla, Moral de Calatrava, Pedro Muñoz, Socuéllamos and Valdepeñas, who controlled “922 vehicles, of which more than half of the complaints, 57%, were due to the use of the mobile phone.” This year, the town councils have also been convened with the Local Police “and whose collaboration we thank very much”.
Thus, the delegate pointed out, “marking a mobile phone number, responding to a phone call, reading or answering a whastapp, lighting a cigarette, adjusting the radio or CD player while driving, means looking away from the road for a time, period in which the vehicle circulates without control, which means that circumstances can arise that cause a serious accident.”
On the occasion of this campaign, the DGT emphasizes the fact that distraction and speed are a binomial that very significantly increases the levels of risk during driving. In fact, the most frequent accidents due to this cause are the exit of the road, the collision with the previous vehicle and the atrocities.
Finally, the government delegate, Francisco Tierraseca, stressed the importance of this type of campaign to make drivers aware that “it is essential, in order to move safely, to focus all our attention on the task of driving”.
Applicable regulations
The current regulations consider it a serious infringement to drive using any type of audio or headset connected to sound receiving or reproducing devices or other devices that diminish permanent attention to driving, as well as to drive manually using mobile phone devices, browsers or any other communication system. The aforementioned infringement is punishable by a fine of 200 euros.
Also the Law of Permit by Points, after legislative reform, modified the number of points that are lost in relation to the use of the mobile while driving, going from three to six points, with the following description: “Using handheld mobile phone devices while driving is a loss of six points.”
In the first ten years of the introduction of the point permit, ten percent of the sanctions imposed were for using the mobile phone or other sound devices while driving.