A WEEK-LONG pre-Christmas crackdown on drink- and drug-driving started today with checkpoints set up on Spain's roads until this coming Sunday, December 18.
Although motorways will be targeted, traffic police will concentrate on secondary roads, where 80% of fatal accidents take place.
Figures in past years have shown alcohol levels above the limit, or drugs, and sometimes both, are found in over a third of drivers killed in crashes.
Despite this high figure, Spain has one of the most restrictive legal limits for alcohol in Europe – so low, in fact, that a standard glass of wine is enough to put drivers on the wrong side of it.
And drug-use before driving – typically marijuana and cocaine – has been steadily rising.
Penalties can include a driving ban ranging from six months to six years, and fines starting at between €500 and €1,000.
Police are always more alert in the run-up to Christmas, given the increasing number of parties and celebrations, and checkpoints are likely to be at every exit to most towns around the clock.
