Acting Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande Marlaska, has presented the special device of the General direction of traffic for the summer 2019, which will begin on Friday, June 28 and will continue until Sunday, September 1.
During this period, a series of measures to regulate, manage and monitor traffic are launched, with the aim of guaranteeing the safety of citizens in their journeys and preventing any possible risk, keeping them informed.
Grande-Marlaska has been accompanied by the Undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior, Isabel Goicoechea, and by the General Director of Traffic, Pere Navarro, among other authorities.
More trips
During the months of July and August, it is expected that a total of 90 million long-distance trips will be made on the roads, which represents an increase of 1.66% with respect to the actual journeys that took place last year (+1 5 million)
Ministry of Interior
For July, 43 million trips have been planned, representing an increase of 1.76%, that is, 750,000 trips more than in July of last year.
In August, the forecast is 47 million long-distance trips, which is also an increase of 1.57% compared to the movements that occurred in August last year.
As has been happening for several years, many citizens choose to fragment their vacations over the two months and start them by making them coincide with the weekend.
Following this criterion and to attend to that greater number of people who start the weekend holidays, and who opt for the vehicle as a means of transport, the DGT has established special regulation and traffic control devices during all weekends of the summer period, intensifying them during the first of each month and giving rise to the so-called exit or return operations.
Ministry of Interior
Different traffic behavior in summer
In summer, traffic behaves differently than the rest of the year:
• The number of long-distance trips increases, both on work days and, especially, on weekends.
• The intensity of circulation is increased on weekends and holidays on all the roads that connect the large urban centers with the main tourist areas of beach-coast and second-home areas, on long-haul routes.
• Conflict is reduced in the accesses to the large urban centers during the peak hours of the working days in the entrance and exit to the places of work.
• There is a greater presence on all roads of vehicles with foreign registration that travel to third countries. For this reason, the DGT has enabled a series of Rest and Information Areas for drivers, with various services to facilitate their transit.
Main tourist and transit movements "Summer 2019"
Ministry of Interior
• Greater number of sports activities that use the roads for their development and that can originate in sections of them, complementary measures of circulation.
Where do we start?
In the months of July and August of last year there was an increase in the number of long-distance journeys and the deaths also increased by 15%. Specifically in the two months there were 260 deaths and 940 wounded. "These data assume that an average of 4 people died on the road every day last summer and 15 others were seriously injured, many of them with permanent disabilities, and we all have a responsibility to ensure that this terrible number does not happen again," he said. the minister during the presentation.
76% of fatal accidents occurred on conventional roads; the exit of the road continued being the most frequent type of accident with 37% of the fatal accidents, followed by the frontal collision with 29%. Vulnerable deaths – pedestrians (23), cyclists (8) and (58) motorcyclists – accounted for 34% of those killed in summer. Finally, 29 of the deceased who traveled in tourism did not use the safety belt
What are we going to do?
Based on this basis, the DGT has adopted the following measures to start up during the summer:
• Instruction to the Traffic Association to prioritize surveillance on conventional roads and verify that the 90 km / h limit on the roads is being met. Since January, the generic speed of these roads is 90 km / h.
This summer the citizens have 300 more agents of the Traffic Association with respect to last summer. Currently the ATGC has 9,100 personnel.
• Installation of 78 new radars during this year. 20 of them will be operational on July 1. The remaining 58, of which 15 are section, will go into service as they have the certifications of metrological control.
• Surveillance through the aerial means available: 12 helicopters that will fly over the roads of the peninsula, the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands and 11 drones.
• Breathalyzer preventive controls will be increased. Traffic plans to carry out 900,000 tests in these two months. To this figure we must add those made by local and regional police.
• Monitoring the use of mobile phones with all available means: helicopters, drones, 216 high definition cameras and camouflaged vehicles.
• Realization of three special surveillance campaigns, two of them focused on vulnerable groups: cyclists (July 13 and 14); motorcyclists (July 27 and 28) and the third to speed control (August 12 to 18)
• Awareness campaign in the media and social networks. The month of July resumes the campaign Live or dead to draw attention to the drama of traffic accidents, and will continue with the Top Holiday campaign on possible holiday destinations that had never been thought of going if you drink alcohol , the speed limits are not respected or if the driving mobile is used. Behaviors that can affect the hospital, the prison or perhaps the cemetery.
"We have made an important effort to increase human and technical resources to put them at the service of citizens, but these means will not serve much if you do not have correct behavior on the road and if the established rules are not met." "There are no excuses, road safety is everyone's responsibility and we must all be up to the task not to create danger on the road and suffering hundreds of people who do," said Grande-Marlaska.
With regard to traffic management and to facilitate mobility on the road, the following measures will be established:
• Installation of reversible and additional lanes with cones at times of greatest circulation and sections on certain roads.
• Establishment and signaling of alternative itineraries.
• Dynamic signaling through 2,200 message panels of the main traffic variables: travel times, alternative routes, incidents on the road, etc.
• Stop works that affect roads on all roads to minimize the impact on traffic during the days of the summer exit-return operation.
• Limitation of the celebration of sports events and other events.
• Restriction of the circulation of trucks transporting dangerous goods and vehicles that require special authorization to circulate at certain times of the days with the most displacements.
• Continuous information on any incident on the road through telephone 011, Internet, twitter and in the newsletters of radio stations.
Why, if we know, do not we?
• Better slow down, especially on conventional roads.
• Special attention when leaving the motorways and highways and entering the conventional roads and special attention also in the short journeys between the conventional roads that connect holiday resorts.
• If you drink, do not drive and if someone from the group you have drunk with, it is your responsibility not to let them drive.
• Turn off the phone if you are going to drive or put the car mode on those devices that carry it. There is nothing that can not wait. Also, if you are a passenger, do not let the driver manipulate your mobile.
• Wear the seatbelt and the minors in your child restraint system.
• Stop every two hours on long trips to rest. Driving fatigue is a bad ally.