Government wants to lower drink-driving limit for motorists on Spain's roads

The minister for the interior is confident that "society is ready" to accept this change and further reduce the number of traffic accidents

ABC

Madrid

Friday, 13 September 2024, 16:43

Opciones para compartir

Head of the interior ministry for Spain, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, made the call on Thursday this week for parliamentary procedures to be initiated to lower the blood alcohol level limit for driving a vehicle as he believes that "Spanish society is ready" to accept this change so as to reduce even further the number of accidents on Spanish highways and byways.

The announcement was made at one of Forum Europe's breakfast briefings. Ministry sources explained that the intention is that, in line with the proposal from the Directorate-General of Traffic (DGT), the general rate will be reduced to 0.2 grammes per litre of alcohol in the blood, compared to the current 0.5 for most drivers.

According to these same ministry sources, the change would be made by means of article 20 of the general traffic regulations, which would require the agreement of the different parliamentary powers for it to be approved, thereby bringing Spain into line with other countries such as Sweden. In June, the measure had already been proposed, but only for novice (learners and recently-passed) and professional drivers.

Grande-Marlaska pointed out that his ministry has opted for this change in response to the request from associations affected by "mayhem on the roads", which has left a tally of 241 people dead this past summer. "In more than half of the accidents, alcohol or drugs were the determining factor", taking this fact to justify the change.

For this reason he said he was in favour of "addressing the debate head-on", which includes both the reduction of drink-driving rates and voluntary courses to recover lost licence points (in Spain drivers lose points for certain traffic offences unlike the UK where points are added to penalise the offender).

Grande-Marlaska has taken stock of the steady reduction in road deaths since the introduction of the points-based licence, with a current level of 36 deaths per one million inhabitants compared to the European Union average of 47 deaths. The challenge now, he said, is to bring Spain into line with countries such as Sweden, Denmark and Germany.

Top 50

Reporta un error en esta noticia