From 2 to 8 August, the Directorate General of Traffic has activated and launched a new campaign to intensify vigilance on the risk posed by the consumption of alcohol and/or drugs and driving.

For a week, officers of the Civil Guard Traffic Group (ATGC) have intensified controls on this concurrent factor, present in almost a third of fatal accidents last year. To this end, different checkpoints will be set up at any time of day in order to prevent people who have consumed alcohol or drugs from driving on the roads.

To discourage the consumption of these substances while driving on all types of roads, Traffic has invited local councils with more than 25,000 inhabitants to join the campaign, with the establishment of controls in their respective urban centres.

For several years, the DGT has been working with local councils and developing a plan to support local police in alcohol and other drug testing, providing training courses and equipping them with the tools to carry out drug controls. The participation of local authorities in this area is essential in order to carry out surveillance as close as possible to the areas of consumption and to avoid greater exposure to risk.

Alcohol-drug use and driving are incompatible, as can be seen from the 2020 report on toxicological findings in traffic accident fatalities by the National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences. According to this report, of the 597 drivers who died in traffic accidents and underwent autopsy and toxicological analysis, 291 (48.7%) tested positive for alcohol, drugs of abuse and/or psychotropic drugs, 3.2% more than in 2019.

Alcohol continues to be the substance most commonly used by drivers killed (20.1%), followed by other drugs (20.1%), mainly cocaine and cannabis, and, in third place, psychotropic drugs (13.4%).

It is also worth noting the high rate of alcohol in those who died with positive results for alcohol; 78.5% of them had a blood alcohol level of 1.2 g/L or more.

A comparative study of the last 10 years of the number of drivers with positive toxicological results shows an upward trend in the use of alcohol, drugs and psychotropic drugs, with a 6.2% increase. The increase in drugs stands out, with a 7.6% rise, compared with a 3.1% rise in alcohol consumption and a 1% rise in the consumption of psychotropic drugs.

However, it is not only drivers who have tested positive for alcohol, drugs and/or psychotropic drugs, either alone or in combination, that have increased, and in 2020 there was also an increase in the number of pedestrians killed by pedestrians in road traffic accidents who tested positive for alcohol, drugs and/or psychotropic drugs. Of the 136 pedestrians who died and underwent autopsy, 56 (41.2%) tested positive.

The DGT insists once again that the only safe blood alcohol level is 0.0%, since even with blood alcohol levels within the legal limits, our risk of causing an accident may be increased.