Reoffending drink- and drug-drivers will face compulsory health checks, says interior ministry
Wednesday, May 17, 2017 @ 12:53 PM
DRIVERS caught over the alcohol limit, on drugs or both more than once in two years will face an automatic ban and compulsory health checks to see whether they suffer addictions, says interior minister Juan Ignacio Zoido.
Although this is already provided for by the General Drivers' Regulations, part of Spain's road traffic law, it is rarely applied.
But the ex-mayor of Sevilla and now head of Interior says something needs to be done in light of the high number of cyclist and pedestrian deaths and injuries and of drivers continuing to be found well in excess of the alcohol limit or under the influence of substances, typically cocaine and cannabis.
Less than a week after three cyclists from Jávea (Alicante province) lost their lives when a drunken and drug-fuelled driver ploughed through them on the N-332 highway in Oliva (Valencia province), a near-identical case was seen in the province of Tarragona – a woman aged 25 who had consumed large amounts of alcohol knocked down six cyclists.
Fortunately, in the second case, all of them survived, but several have been injured.
And in the four days following the Oliva crash, three drivers were caught in the same province between three and six times over the alcohol limit, one also on drugs and driving the wrong way down the AP-7 motorway.
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