Complaints to drivers for using their mobile phones at the wheel increased in Balears by more than 28% over the past year

ASPAYM volunteers have participated today in the Traffic campaign to raise awareness among drivers of the serious risk posed by lack of attention on the road

Some 4,217 drivers were reported in 2023 for using their mobile phones at the wheel, according to data from the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT), which this week deploys its campaign against distractions in Balears. The objective is to reduce this risk factor in driving, which in the whole of Spain is present in an average of 3 out of 10 fatal traffic accidents and which constitutes one of the most frequent causes of infraction, along with alcohol or drug consumption or improper use of the safety belt.

The delegate of the Government, Alfonso Rodríguez Badal, and the provincial head of Traffic in the Balears, Francisca Ramis, accompanied by the lieutenant colonel head of the Traffic Sector of the Civil Guard in the Balearic Islands, Manuel Aguilera, have presented on Thursday in Palma the campaign "Do not run, do not drink, do not change wheels", which is developed with the collaboration of the National Federation ASPAYM, of people with spinal injuries. During a preventive alcohol control aimed at drivers, volunteers of the entity have accompanied traffic agents to explain, in the first person, their testimony about the consequences of traffic accidents.

Francisca Ramis stressed “the importance of raising awareness about the irreversible consequences that a distraction at the wheel can have, however short and small it may be”. Ramis insists that this is “It is a concurrent factor in 31% of traffic accidents with fatalities.” According to data from the DGT, in Spain 2 out of 10 people recognize that they consult text messages on their mobile while driving, and 22% admit that they speak on this device without using the hands-free system.

The government delegate in the Balearic Islands, Alfonso Rodríguez Badal, has warned that “the intense action of the Administration and the institutions to improve safety on the roads must be accompanied by greater awareness on the part of the people who use these roads, since it is the only way that all these efforts translate into fewer accidents and fewer truncated lives at the wheel”.

Campaign aimed at bikers

On the other hand, in the course of this presentation, brochures of the campaign “We want you back, we want you safe”, aimed at motorcycle drivers, have been distributed. In 2023 in Illes Balears, 21 motorcyclists lost their lives in a traffic accident, 17 of them on interurban roads.