The Special Traffic Operation on the occasion of the Constitution and Immaculate Bridge foresees 862,000 trips in Castilla y León

• By province, the roads of Valladolid, Burgos, León and Segovia account for 55% of the planned trips • The Government delegate calls on drivers to comply with road safety regulations • So far this year 116 people have died on the roads of Castilla y León, the last this morning in the province of Soria

December 5, 2023.- The delegate of the Government, Virginia Barcones, has presented the special device that the General Directorate of Traffic puts in place on the occasion of the festivities of the Constitution and the Immaculate and that anticipates 862,000 displacements on the roads of Castilla y León. The special device that the DGT launches begins this afternoon at 3.00 p.m. and will be active until midnight on Sunday, December 10.

During the presentation, the Government delegate was accompanied by the Government’s deputy delegate in León, Faustino Sánchez; the lieutenant colonel of the Leon Command and accidental head of the XII Zone of the Civil Guard, Julio Andrés Gutiérrez Hernández; the autonomous coordinator of the DGT, Inmaculada Matías, and the lieutenant colonel head of the Traffic Sector of the Civil Guard in Castilla y León, Francisco Iturralde.

Virginia Barcones has started by pointing out that 2023 is being a black year on the roads of Castilla y León since they have died in the same 116 people, the last one this morning in the province of Soria. Last year at this time there were 123 deaths.

In León, the data are especially negative and that is the reason “why we return here today, because it is the province of Castilla y León that accumulates more deaths on its roads”, said the delegate. In total there are 25 deaths on the roads of León so far this year, the last of them last Friday in Cuadros after a frontal collision between a van and a tourist. These figures have nothing to do with the 13 deaths that were in 2022 by these same dates.

In this sense, Virginia Barcones has expressed that every life lost on the road is “a drama for a family”, a wound “that takes time to heal those who suffer it more closely”. This is why it has called on drivers to keep “calm at the wheel” for the next few days and to respect “road safety standards” regarding speed limits, seat belt use and child restraint systems. “It is forbidden to consume alcohol and drugs if you are going to put yourself at the wheel. They diminish capacity and that can lead to an accident in which you can lose your life,” he said.

He also recalled that you have to be very careful when using the mobile because that second or two that is lost to take it if you are driving can be the difference between life and death. Last year, 36.5% of those killed in a traffic accident (54 out of 148) lost their lives because of a distraction.

In this sense, he explained that there will also be long trips so you have to be careful with fatigue, take breaks every two hours at least because “fatigue subtracts capacity”, at the wheel and sleep “is behind accidents with fatalities”.

The provincial distribution of the 862,000 planned displacements in Castila and León, the forecast is as follows:

Province	Travel
Ávila	95,000
Burgos	125,000
León	103,000
Palencia	86,000
Salamanca	86,000
Segovia	112,000
Soria	52,000
Valladolid	138 000
Zamora	65,000
Castile and Leon	862,000

In order to cover all these journeys, which will significantly affect roads destined for mountain areas for winter sports, but also others destined for tourist rest areas and those of second residence, the DGT has prepared a special operation that includes regulation, management and surveillance measures that guarantee mobility and fluidity on the roads and, at the same time, ensure their road safety.

As usual, the operation has the maximum availability of the human resources available to the Agency (agents of the Civil Guard Traffic Grouping; staff of the Northern Traffic Management Centre and personnel responsible for the maintenance of equipment and the installation of measures on the road, in addition to the personnel of the emergency services).

Material resources are also available (86 fixed speed control radars, of which 24 are section radars, 97 mobile radars that can be loaded onto ATGC vehicles, 24 cameras and 3 camouflaged vans to control the use of mobile phones and seatbelts).

The DGT also has helicopters and drones for monitoring from the air and unmarked vehicles and motorcycles that will circulate on all types of roads in order to check the correct behavior of drivers during driving.

“The ultimate goal is that all those who go out these days to spend a few days of leisure and rest, return home safe and sound,” said Virginia Barcones, who recalled that last year’s Constitution and Immaculate Bridge ended with a deceased in the province of Soria.

TRAFFIC FORECASTS AND MEASUREMENTS

When the festivities are celebrated on Wednesday and Friday, this will cause the departure of the large urban centers to take place in two phases: the first and most significant on Tuesday 5 (between 5:00 and 22:00) and Wednesday 6 (from 10:00 to 14:00), for the beginning of the bridge period and, the second, on Thursday 7 (between 18:00 and 22:00) and Friday 8 (from 9:00 to 14:00), for the beginning of the holiday and the weekend. For its part, the return will be focused mainly on Sunday 10, mainly between 16.00 and 23.00 hours.

In the rest of the intermediate days, in addition to the long-distance trips, there will also be short movements in the alternating output-entry direction coinciding with the holidays.

For all these reasons, in order to encourage traffic in the most sensitive areas during each of these six days, the DGT has planned, among other regulatory and management measures, the installation of reversible and additional rails with cones in the hours of greatest traffic flow and the establishment of alternative itineraries. Likewise, the works on the roads will be paralyzed, the celebration of sports tests and other events that suppose the occupation of the road will be limited and the circulation of trucks in general and those who transport certain goods in certain sections, dates and times will be restricted.

The established device can be consulted in the “Special Operations” section in www.dgt.es/conoce-el-estado-del-trafico/recomendaciones-de-trafico/.

BASIC RULES BEFORE YOU GO ON A TRIP

Although it may sound repetitive, it is important to remember the recommendations that the DGT makes before trips such as those planned for these days:

• Fine-tune the car with a review that ensures that all elements withstand the most severe environmental conditions involving low temperatures: brakes, lighting, tires, etc.
• Plan the trip on the safest route to avoid unforeseen events and inform yourself of the state of the roads through the twitter accounts @informacionDGT and @DGTes, the news bulletins on radio and television, as well as on the phone 011.
• Avoid distractions, putting the mobile in airplane mode, wearing the safety belt and well anchored minors in their child restraint systems, respect the speed established on the track and adapt it to the conditions of the same and, of course, do not get behind the wheel if alcohol or other drugs have been ingested.

In addition, these days of bridge it is possible that the driving should take place under adverse weather conditions, such as snow, ice, fog, rain and wind.

Driving in this way not only increases the nervous tension and visual fatigue that entails a decrease in attention, but also significantly alters the conditions in which the circulation develops, at the same time generating greater difficulties than those foreseen in the road trip.

In this regard, Barcones has advanced that, according to AEMET, by tomorrow there will be little cloudy skies although with morning fog banks, especially on the plateau. From the afternoon it tends to cloudy skies, without ruling out weak rainfall in the west, especially in the northwest, in this province. There will be widespread, locally moderate weak frosts in mountain areas.

By Thursday, morning fogs will remain and there will be weak or moderate rainfall and some storms. The temperatures will rise noticeably.

Already on Friday there will be weak rainfall in mountain areas and temperatures will continue to rise. The same tone for Saturday while on Sunday, the return day of this bridge, in the Cantabrian there will be cloudy skies and rainfall. In the rest of Castilla y León the weather would be anticyclonic with high temperatures for this time of year.

As all these drawbacks predicted by AEMET can arise unexpectedly at any time of the trip, it is important to always keep in mind the two basic rules for driving, such as prevention and prudence, which will allow us to make the road trip in the best road safety conditions.

Finally, Virginia Barcones has thanked the workers of the General Directorate of Traffic and also the thousands of agents of the Traffic subsector of the Civil Guard for all the work they are going to carry out during these days. He has also had words of thanks for the staff in charge of the maintenance of equipment and the installation of road measures as well as for the emergency services.