Seven-day speeding clampdown leads to 35,000 drivers fined

OVER 35,000 drivers have been fined for speeding in the space of just one week during a crackdown campaign by traffic police.

One motorist on the AP-7 in the province of Valencia was fined 9,000 euros and lost his licence for 20 months after being caught travelling at 252 kilometres per hour – more than double the 120-kilometre speed limit.

Another was caught on the A-92 through Málaga, where the limit is the same, at 219 kilometres per hour and a third was fined on the A-45 in the Córdoba area travelling at 184 kilometres per hour where the limit was 90.

For speeds this excessive, drivers can face between three and six months in jail – which does not have to be served if the motorist has no previous criminal charges, given that it is under the two-year minimum for a custodial sentence – or a daily fine extending from six to 12 months, plus a driving ban of between one and four years.

Among other drivers caught and sanctioned, four were exceeding the limit by 80 kilometres per hour, and one of the most serious was a motorist on a B-road in the province of Pontevedra – the PO-551, where the limit is just 50 kilometres per hour due to it being a built-up area – caught travelling at 188 kilometres per hour.

The campaign, which ran from August 19 to 25, involved a nearly 953,000 vehicles checked in transit, of which just over 478,000 were on main roads.

Of the 35,479, or 3.72 per cent charged, just over half – 18,730 – were on main trunk roads.

Most of the checks were carried out by Guardia Civil officers via on-road speed traps, but 360 vehicles were monitored from the air by the helicopter Pegasus, during the course of 18 hours in flight.

Photograph: Air-shot of a car taken by the helicopter Pegasus, provided by the Dirección General de Tráfico, or DGT