Trucks were involved in 13% of accidents with fatalities recorded on roads in the Region of Murcia in 2022

• The government delegate calls for the responsibility of professional drivers in the presentation of a new campaign of control and surveillance of trucks and buses
• José Vélez highlights the preventive nature of this type of actions to avoid situations such as last week, which forced the Civil Guard to intercept and arrest a truck driver who exceeded nine times the permitted blood alcohol rate
• From today until next Sunday, 200 agents of the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard will control 450 vehicles of these characteristics

February 13, 2023. Seven of the fifty-two fatalities recorded on roads in the Region of Murcia in 2022 occurred in accidents involving a truck. Of this figure, which represents 13%, three were drivers of the trucks themselves, and four, another type of users, two pedestrians, a passenger and a tourist driver.

“The activity of professional drivers of trucks and buses is particularly sensitive, since the safety of goods and passengers depends on their work, but it also decisively affects the safety of other road users, and that is why it is very important to develop awareness campaigns of this type,” explained José Vélez.

The Government delegate, accompanied by the Provincial Traffic Chief, Virginia Jerez, and the Chief Commander of the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard, Francisco Javier Utrabo, presented this morning a special campaign of surveillance and control of trucks and buses, which will take place from today and will last until next Sunday.

During this week, two hundred agents of the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard will control about 450 vehicles, in addition to those controlled by the local police of the 21 municipalities that have joined this campaign.

“During these days, we reinforced this specific device, but this is a daily work of the Provincial Traffic Headquarters and the traffic sector of the Civil Traffic Guard, with an eminently preventive character, which, for example, allowed last week in Molina de Segura to arrest a truck driver who was driving exceeding nine times the maximum permitted alcohol rate,” added Vélez.

The provincial head of Traffic explained that during the campaign the work of inspection of vehicles intended for the transport of goods and passengers will be intensified, checking the documentation and technical conditions of the vehicle itself in relation to its technical conditions and safety elements.

“Special attention will be given to the professional driver, habilitation, permits, as well as their stipulated driving and rest times. Likewise, attention will be paid to the general concurrent causes of accidents on the road, excesses of speed and the consumption of alcohol and drugs,” he said.

The total active vehicle fleet in the Region of Murcia amounts to 1,161,219 vehicles, of which 84,679 are trucks, 7%, and 1,931, buses, 0.2% of the total.

The accident rate of buses on interurban roads reflects in 2022 a balance of five accidents with victims. One of these five accidents was a fatal accident on October 2, in which a third of another vehicle involved (1 passenger in tourism) died. In 2021 there was no accident where a bus was involved in this type of roads.

Data from the last campaign, from June 13 to 19, 2022

The Traffic Sector of the Civil Guard of Murcia controlled in interurban roads a total of 703 trucks and buses, with the result of 162 vehicles reported and 312 complaints.