SPEED CHECKS INTENSIFIED

The Spanish traffic department, the DGT, has announced that they will be intensifying speed control checks between Monday and Sunday of next week, primarily on conventional roads, where 70% of all injury causing accidents occur.

According to the DGT, travelling within the speed limit would reduce the number of fatalities on the road by around a quarter, and speeding is the primary problem present on Spanish roads.

In 2011, the last year for which data is currently available closed, 475 people died in traffic accidents where speed was one of the contributing factors, meanwhile, on the other side of the issue, speeding remains the biggest money earner for the Spanish authorities, resulting in the largest number of penalty fines issued.

Between January and September last year, 54% of all traffic fines were for speeding, beating penalties for using mobile phones at the wheel, 16.6% of the total fines, not using a seat security, for which 16.2% of all fines were attributed, and exceeding the maximum allowable rate of alcohol, for which 13% of all fines were issued.

The DGT also warns that driving at 120 kilometres per hour requires a distance greater than a football field to stop the vehicle, whereas at 80 kilometres per hour it is almost impossible for a pedestrian struck by a vehicle to survive.

Currently, speeding which is classified as a serious or very serious offence in the Road Traffic Act is punishable by a fine of between 100 and 600 euro, as well as the loss of between 2 and 6 points for this type of penalty, with serious speeders also facing prison.

Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/40272/

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