Monday of this week saw the Guardia Civil embark on the Spanish traffic department’s latest road safety initiative, in which they are targeting trucks, vans and other commercial vehicles to ensure compliance with road safety laws and regulations.
In a statement from the DGT, it is said that although 67% of the road traffic in Spain is comprised of passenger cars, freight transport plays a major role as far as road safety is concerned, since it represents the second largest type of vehicles on the roads, some 15%, and saw involvement in 14% of injury related accidents that occurred in 2012, resulting in 11,000 victims.
According to those records, 463 people died and there were 11,231 accidents involving victims, in which at least a van or truck was involved in the accident. Distraction is one of the main causes of accidents in trucks and vans. Of the 11,231 recorded accidents with victims, distraction was present in 4,642 of them. Along with distraction, inappropriate speed is another contributing factor in accidents involving trucks and vans, with more than 1,000 accidents with casualties in 2012 involving a truck or van recorded inappropriate speed at the time of the accident. Not only that, 41 of the 147 truck occupants who lost their lives in that year were not wearing a seatbelt.
For all this week, officers from the Guardia Civil traffic department, along with their colleagues from the local police forces, will focus on such elements as driving hours, weight, technical defects, load security, driver and vehicle documentation, the use of seatbelts and the use of drugs and alcohol.
The campaign coincides with an International Traffic Police initiative, in which TISPOL will operate similar checks across 25 European countries, coordinated as a lot of these vehicles operate across the continent.
The next campaign, in March, will target seatbelts and child restraints, in April the focus will be on Speed and in May motorcyclists will be targeted, prior to a major push on drugs and alcohol checks in June and July.
Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/42575/
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