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Spain launches a new crackdown on drink and drug driving this week, and the numbers behind it make sobering reading
Alcohol was present in 28% of all traffic accidents in 2024, and deaths involving drunk drivers rose 9% in a single year
The DGT has launched a new week-long campaign targeting alcohol and drug use behind the wheel, running from Monday until Sunday July 19, with the Guardia Civil intensifying checks on roads across the country alongside regional and local police forces covering urban routes.The statistics behind the campaign are hard to ignore. Alcohol is the second most common contributing factor in road accidents in Spain, present in 28% of those recorded in 2024 and responsible for 273 deaths. That's not a static problem either. Deaths in accidents where at least one driver tested positive for alcohol rose 9% in 2024 compared to the previous year, and 24% compared to 2019. Of all deceased drivers who underwent toxicological analysis in 2024, 34% tested positive for alcohol and 16.4% for drugs.
Spain's points-based driving licence system has done remarkable work over two decades in bringing road deaths down from nearly 4,500 a year to under 1,800, but drink and drug driving remains a persistent weak point.
The DGT's National Road Safety Observatory director Álvaro Gómez was clear: "Although progress has been made in raising public awareness about the risks of driving under the influence, scientific evidence shows that the only safe blood alcohol level while driving is zero."
The risk multiplies quickly. At 0.5 g/l, the chance of a collision doubles. At 0.8 g/l it's five times greater. At 1.5 g/l, twenty times higher than driving sober.
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This campaign has an unusual human dimension. Volunteers with spinal cord injuries, themselves victims of traffic accidents, are accompanying officers during checks in several provinces under the slogan "Don't speed, don't drink... don't change your tires." ASPAYM president Mayte Gallego explained the thinking simply: "All these campaigns boil down to the same thing: overconfidence that ends up backfiring and can change our lives in an instant, for the rest of our days."
Her practical advice was equally direct: "It's important to ask ourselves if we are fit to drive or not, and, when making any trip, to do so with a clear head, without external influences."
In Murcia specifically, 232 officers will carry out around 9,500 alcohol and drug tests this week, with local police in 30 municipalities covering urban roads. During the last equivalent campaign, 94 drivers tested positive for alcohol and 73 for drugs, with the drug testing rate particularly striking: of the 286 drug tests carried out, over 25% came back positive.
The wider Murcia picture adds further context. In 2025, alcohol and drug use was the leading cause of driving licence points deductions in the region, accounting for 29,398 points lost, ahead even of speeding. Of the 38 drivers involved in fatal accidents who were analysed, 15 tested positive for alcohol or drugs. On urban roads the figure was starker still: 67% of deceased drivers had consumed either substance.
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