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SPAIN HAS some of the lowest tolerances in Europe for alcohol consumption and driving. Depending on such factors as your weight, amount of alcohol drunk and when and how much you have had to eat; just one or two glasses of beer or wine can set your levels right at the limit. 

With the festive season about to kick off this weekend, Guardia Civil in Mazarron received a lot of negativity from residents because of an unannounced, intense drink driving campaign during last week’s fiesta. The Guardia intend to keep up the intensity with planned sobriety checkpoints at known fiestas throughout Murcia, with the next clampdown designated for Totana.

Last week, Government delegate, Joaquín Bascuñana said “a new advertising and publicity campaign will be launched and that they will inform the mayors of local municipalities of possible alcohol tests that will coincide with important events or holiday celebrations.” Bascuñana is still receiving criticism over the controversial checking of more than a thousand drivers in Bolnuevo after the fiesta of the pilgrimage of the Virgen del Milagro, which resulted in 30 sanctioned drivers.

The delegate stressed that the action, which he warned, “will expand to other municipalities, although tax collection is not a factor.”

However Spanish driving associations have heaped scorn on such ‘non revenue development’ issues after an expose on Spanish Television last week in which Guardia Civil agents and documentation confirmed that some agents were being put under pressure to write tickets and fabricate offences in order to raise revenue, or else risk a drop in wages. These fabricated offences did not involve drink driving but were for such offences as mobile phone use, eating, drinking or smoking while driving and not having the correct documentation. For drivers without a Spanish Driving Licence, these result in on-the-spot fines, sometimes car impounding, with little if any chance of redress. 

Spain has traditionally had a very poor record when it comes to drink driving and the high rate of accidents and deaths associated with this serious offence. The message is clear: don’t drink and drive, as road checks over the next month will be intensified and the reason for such a high profile campaign is to protect both the drivers, their passengers and innocent victims from drunk drivers.

Source: RTN