Traffic foresees almost 8 million road trips during the coming weekend, more than 49 million in the whole month. Long-distance trips, both inbound and outbound, will be added to the usual weekend trips during the summer period.

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DGT

On the occasion of the beginning of August, the most important month in terms of vehicle movements this summer, the General Directorate of Traffic is launching tomorrow, Friday 28 July and until midnight next Tuesday 1 August, the “Special Operation 1 August” with the aim of covering the 8,780,000 movements planned for these days, within the 49,339,000 that are expected to be carried out throughout the month of August.

Special Operation 1st August

These days will coincide on the road with the movements of vehicles generated by the beginning of the holiday month of August, long-distance journeys out of the large urban centres, the return of those who finish their vacations in July, together with the usual journeys of departure/return for the weekend of the summer period.

For this reason, these days Traffic has established a series of measures of regulation, management and surveillance of traffic in order to provide security coverage to the millions of short and long-distance trips expected.

In order to cover this operation and make all these movements safe, Traffic has the maximum availability of its human resources: agents of the Traffic Grouping of the Civil Guard, civil servants of the 8 Traffic Management Centers and personnel in charge of the maintenance of equipment and the installation of measures on the road, in addition to the personnel of the emergency services. Regarding material resources, the DGT has 780 fixed speed control radars, of which 92 are stretch radars, 545 mobile radars which can be on board ATGC vehicles, 245 cameras and 15 camouflaged vans to control the use of cell phones and seat belts. The DGT also has helicopters and drones for surveillance from the air and unmarked vehicles and motorcycles that will circulate on all types of roads in order to check the correct behaviour of drivers while driving.

Traffic forecasts and measures
The traffic forecasts prepared by the Traffic Department foresee that the greatest increase of vehicles will take place on Friday afternoon, mainly between 16 and 23 hours, which will cause high intensities and traffic problems at the exits of the big cities, as well as in the main access roads to the tourist areas of the coast and rest. In addition to these outbound movements due to the beginning of the August vacations, there will also be those that will take place at the beginning of the summer weekend.

On Saturday morning (from 9 to 14 hours) will continue heavy traffic out of the urban centres and on routes linking coastal towns, beaches and access to the coast, as well as areas of second homes that may have traffic problems and delays in their accesses. In the afternoon-evening will also be observed movements of return to the big cities of those who finish their vacations in July and anticipate their return to this day.

On Sunday morning the accesses to the coast and the roads that join coastal localities of access to beaches will be conflictive and, already in the afternoon, especially between 18 and 23 hours, will begin the return of both those who have enjoyed the summer weekend, as of those who end their vacations in July presenting high traffic intensities and traffic problems in the main road axes of communication that channel all the movement of return from the tourist areas of the coast, rest and second homes, to the accesses of large urban centres.

On Monday 31 will coincide with the usual movements in/out of the big cities of a working day, with outbound movements (between 19 and 22) by the beginning of the holiday month of August.

Finally, on Tuesday, August 1, there could be a greater intensity of outbound traffic (from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) due to the start of the tourist season in apartments, hotels and places of residence for this month, which will be added to the usual inbound/outbound traffic during rush hour due to the fact that it is a working day.

As usual in special traffic operations, in order to favour the circulation in the most conflictive areas, reversible and additional lanes with cones will be installed during peak traffic hours and alternative routes will be established. Likewise, road works will be stopped, the celebration of sporting events and other events that involve the occupation of the road will be limited and the circulation of trucks in general and those transporting certain goods will be restricted in certain stretches, dates and hours.

The established arrangements can be consulted on the DGT website.

To better prepare for the trip
Traffic recommends to program in advance the travel plan, avoiding, if possible, the days of massive displacements and the most unfavourable hours and driving preferably during the morning or the afternoon, and avoiding the night because night driving produces fatigue and drowsiness.

Before starting the trip, it is advisable to carry out a complete overhaul of the vehicle, checking at least the lighting, the condition of the brakes and the tires.

During the trip, you can be informed of the traffic situation in real-time, as well as of any incidents that may occur on the Twitter accounts @informacionDGT and @DGTes, in the news bulletins on radio and television and on the 011 telephone number.