Week-long drink-driving and drugs crackdown until Sunday

Legal limits of alcohol are not expected to change, continuing to be 0.15 milligrams per litre of air breathed in new drivers and professionals such as taxi, bus or train drivers, and 0.25 milligrams for everyone else.

But fines for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs are due to double from 500 euros to 1,000 euros, with a loss of six licence points.

The last drink-driving campaign across the country was in July, when 20,000 drivers were stopped and 2,720 – or 1.1 per cent – were fined.

Last year, 47.32 per cent of drivers who lost their lives in accidents were found to be over the limit for alcohol or drugs.

Catalunya's traffic authorities have also considered invalidating driving licences for people suffering from certain illnesses, or who have to take specific medication which affects their judgment or alters their state of mind.