The special device has the participation of the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard and will last until next Sunday, July 20

The Directorate General of Traffic (DGT) launches, between 14 and 20 July, a new special campaign to monitor and control the consumption of alcohol and other drugs while driving. The device has the participation of the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard and various municipal police.

From today until Sunday, controls will be intensified on both interurban and urban roads with the aim of preventing road accidents caused by the consumption of substances, one of the main causes of road mortality.

In the year 2023, last with consolidated data, 246 people died throughout Spain in traffic accidents where alcohol was the concurrent factor, which represents 26% of fatal accidents. In addition, alcohol was present in 13% of the total number of registered accidents. These figures make it the second cause of road accidents, only behind distractions and ahead of excess speed.

Nearly 8,000 controlled drivers

The last such campaign took place between 16 and 22 December 2024. In it, a total of 7,991 drivers were subject to controls in Extremadura. Of these, 23 tested positive for alcohol and 55 for drugs. As for the substances, the most detected was cannabis with 44 positives in the region, followed by cocaine, with 20 positives.

The table below shows the data broken down by province. It is necessary to bear in mind that the category “positive in drugs” includes drivers who have tested positive in at least one substance. That is, several of the drivers tested positive simultaneously on two or more substances from the table.

	BADAJOZ	CACERES	TOTAL EXTREMADURA
Controlled drivers	4.564	3,427	7.991
Positive in alcoholemia	14	9	23
Positive on drugs	26	29	55
Substance detected: cocaine	10	10	20
Substance detected: amphetamine	3	1	4
Substance detected: cannabis	19	25	44
Substance detected: opioids	0	2	2
Substance detected: methamphetamine	3	0	3

The DGT recalls that driving while having ingested alcohol or drugs has fatal consequences. Several studies have shown that in the two accidents alcohol is present, the injuries suffered by the victims are usually more serious and have a worse prognosis. This is due, in part, to the fact that driving under the influence of alcohol is usually associated with high-risk behaviors such as speeding, not using a seatbelt or performing reckless maneuvers.

In 2024, according to data from the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Road Safety, more than 50,000 drivers were convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol and other drugs.