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SPAIN’S traffic police are ramping up speed checks this week in a crackdown running across the entire country — and beyond.
The DGT (Dirección General de TráficoThe week-long campaign began on Sunday, April 13. Controls will continue until April 19, both on intercity and urban roads. Special attention will be paid to high-risk sections and accident blackspots.
Local police from municipalities who have taken part in the initiative are supporting the agents of the Guardia Civil’s Traffic Division.
This campaign is not limited to Spain. The campaign is being conducted simultaneously throughout Europe by RoadPol (European Roads Policing Network). This means that drivers in all countries will be subjected to increased checks during this week.
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The record of road safety in Spain speaks for itself, and the authorities have ample reasons to act.
Inappropriate speed was a decisive factor in 307 fatal crashes in 2024 — a 5.5% rise on the 291 recorded the previous year.
More than 20% of fatal road crashes are caused by this factor, which is the third most common.
The driver’s behaviour is indicative of the severity of the problem. Around 60% admit exceeding speed limits in conventional roads while almost half do it in urban areas.
Speed has serious consequences. A pedestrian hit by a car is unlikely to survive if the speed exceeds 80kph. The risk of death drops to just 5% at 30kph.
The results of the last campaign held between August 4th and 10th last year showed just how persistent this problem was.
The Guardia Civil checked more than one million vehicles and issued reports against 68,662 of them — a rate of 6.7%, the highest across the last seven campaigns.
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The local police have checked 312,000 more vehicles, and received 14,336 complaints. This is a 4.5% rate.
Since the first fixed radar programme was introduced in Spain in 2005, speed cameras — alongside other measures — have helped cut road fatalities by 75%.
The month of February saw the installation of 33 new speed camera units, including 20 fixed units as well as 13 average-speed devices.
The campaign is a part of Spain’s Road Safety Strategy 2030 as well as the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030. They both aim to halve the number of road deaths before the end of the decade.
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