Although 2013 saw a decline in road deaths, one fatality on the roads is too many, and so action is still being taken to try to reduce this figure.
Whilst cars seemingly get more and more powerful, the “need for speed” seemingly increases as more and more drivers choose to ignore the literal warning signs, but more and more find themselves facing the long arm of the law.
The Spanish traffic department, the DGT, has already announced more investment in speed detecting equipment, based on the huge success that the Pegasus airborne speed traps have achieved, but even in these times of financial crises, with equipment so advanced it can pinpoint our infractions from far out of sight, 57,897 drivers in the Valencia region alone lost points from their licences in 2013.
However, it is worth realising that we are talking about offences that have resulted in the loss of points only in this data, those classed as “serious” speeding offences. These are offences when the speed has been exceeded by more than 30 kilometres per hour on road in question, such as travelling at 120 kmph on a road where the limit is 90.
Offences considered less serious are likely to be considerably higher, but what is also significant is that the number of drivers caught who were classed as being “serious” offenders has hardly dropped from the previous year. In fact, there were just 500 fewer cases in 2013 than the year before.
Mario Arnaldo, president of Automovilistas Europeos Asociados, says that this figure only represents approximately 20% of all speeding tickets, the most common illegal action taken by drivers, with such violations facing a fine of 300 euro. Completed data will not be available for some significant time but, according to Arnaldo, for 2010, the last year for which comprehensive data is available, the total figure exceeded 300,000. Thus, Arnaldo argues, the fines and sanctions “have no preventive effect”, and that many drivers consider the fines to be nothing more than a toll which is assumed once you are on the road.
The fact remains that last year, 57,897 drivers in the region lost points for these offences on interurban roads equated to some 5,000 offenders per month, nearly 160 drivers every single day.
Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/42139/
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