Almost 4 out of 10 fatalities show signs of factors such as phone use while driving, not wearing a belt or driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

The distractions are listed as the cause of approximately four out of every 10 traffic accidents with fatalities recorded in Balears since January of this year. The use of mobile phones at the wheel is one of the most sinister infractions and is listed as one of the most frequent causes of infractions, along with the consumption of alcohol or drugs or improper use of the safety belt.

The Directorate General of Traffic (DGT) is deploying this week its campaign against distractions, to try to reduce this risk factor in driving. This initiative, which is part of the Operation Focus on the Road developed by the European association RoadPol (European Roads Policing Network), has in Balears with the support of the National Federation ASPAYM, of people with spinal injury.

Volunteers of this entity have accompanied on Tuesday in Palma the agents of the Civil Traffic Guard to explain, in first person, their testimony about the consequences of traffic accidents. For this purpose, a blood alcohol control has been installed in the vicinity of Son Hugo, which has served as the context for the presentation of the campaign, which has the slogan “Do not change wheels”.

The government delegate, Alfonso Rodríguez Badal, and the provincial head of Traffic in the Balears, Fernando Alonso, accompanied by the lieutenant colonel head of the Traffic Sector of the Civil Guard in the Balearic Islands, Gonzalo Gómez Nieto, have presented this awareness initiative aimed at drivers.

Fernando Alonso stressed that “this type of campaigns are still essential to warn of the risks involved in distracted or unattentive driving.” According to data from the DGT, in Spain distractions are the concurrent factor with the most presence in road accidents with 13,164 cases, accounting for 18% of the total.

The government delegate in Illes Balears, Alfonso Rodríguez Badal, has warned that “the only way to reduce once and for all the numbers of deaths on the roads is to make drivers aware of how fundamental it is, at all times, not to lay off at the wheel and suppress all those elements of the environment that can lead to a distraction”. Rodríguez Badal has highlighted the continuous effort that the Administration and the rest of the institutions dedicate to permanently reinforce road safety.

So far in 2025, a total of 35 people have lost their lives on the island’s roads in around thirty traffic accidents.