This Weekend sees the next Summer Operation on the Roads

From Friday and through the weekend, the DGT will apply a series of measures to regulate and monitor traffic during the next summer period, with the Special Operation 1º of August, which will take place until August 1.

This weekend marks the first central point in the holiday period when some of those who took an early vacation return to their inland homes, whereas more who are about to begin their holidays head to the coastal and mountainous regions, mixed in with more people just set about enjoying a weekend break. In all, during the period from July 31 to August 1, there will be an estimated 3.2 million journeys made.

The main congestion will appear in the exits of the big cities, as well as in the main access roads to the coastal areas. This pattern will intensify during Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. The roads most affected will be those around Madrid, Castilla la Mancha, Comunidad Valenciana, Murcia and Andalucía. Late in the evening, the congestion problems will be transferred to the places of destination, such as the coast.

In addition to domestic tourist trips, Spain is also a transit country for millions of travellers from different European countries who return for holidays to their places of origin in Africa. This weekend is one of the most critical in terms of the Paso del Estrecho operation, so it will be frequent that the roads leading to ports will intensify.

As many of them move by road, the Government has been launching, for years, the special Paso del Estrecho operation, which has been in place since June 15. Among the measures and services included in this device are the Rest Areas of Horcajo de la Sierra (Madrid) and Valdepeñas (Ciudad Real) as well as the information areas of Oyarzun (Guipúzcoa), Loja (Granada), Villajoyosa (Alicante) and Ribera de Cabanes (Castellón). These service and information areas are enabled by the DGT so that citizens travelling through Spain from north to south can rest from driving and make a safer trip.

To minimize the possible complications that may occur, the DGT will install traffic regulation measures that will favour the circulation of vehicles in the most conflictive areas. To this end, additional lanes will be installed, through cones, on the main access roads to major cities, and the movement of dangerous goods vehicles, special transport and trucks with a maximum authorized mass of more than 7,500 kg will be restricted.

In addition, the DGT has designed routes according to destination, for those drivers who need to move from one area to another on the peninsula and who do not wish to pass through the centre, which is the area that generates the greatest quantity of vehicles.

From the air, the DGT will monitor both conventional highways and high capacity roads with the 10 helicopters available and with 5 drones that are distributed throughout the field of action of the DGT.

The material means are complemented by the human resources that the DGT has: more than 800 officials and specialised technical personnel that serve the Traffic Management Centres; all available traffic officers of the Guardia Civil, and more than 13,000 employees various road service companies, as well as the emergency services, both medical and fire fighters.

SPEED, ALCOHOL AND DRUGS

August is the summer month in which there are more road trips than any other, with a forecast of more than 45.7 million trips.

With the aim of ensuring the safety of travel, the DGT will carry out two special surveillance campaigns. The first of them against inappropriate speed: During the week of August 6 to 12, there will be an increase in checks on the compliance of speed limits. It will mainly focus on conventional roads, which is where the established limits are most violated and where more fatal incidents are registered. The controls will be done from both the air and on the road, with fixed and mobile radars

The second campaign will be monitoring the consumption of alcohol and drugs at the wheel. During the 13th, 14th and 15th of August, preventive controls will be increased, since they are days in which many towns celebrate their patron saint festivities.