Spain to toughen penalties for drunk driving

Drivers who test over the limit for alcohol consumption or for drug use twice or more in two years or under will lose their driving license and be forced to undergo an evaluation by health authorities to see if they have addiction problems.

This was one of the measures proposed by the Spanish Interior Ministry and the General Direction of Traffic in an attempt to limit the number of fatalities caused by people driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, the Spanish press reported.

The announcement made by Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido comes less than two weeks after a drunk driver, a 28-year-old woman with previous convictions for drunk driving, killed three cyclists in an accident close to the town of Denia in eastern Spain.

This accident was followed last weekend when a Colombian woman who had four times over the permitted level of alcohol in her bloodstream, injured six riders after crossing onto the wrong side of the road.

The minister announced more measures to protect cyclists on Spanish roads with more specialist routes to be signaled and a greater presence of police patrols on secondary roads, where the majority of accidents involving cyclists occur.

He also indicated there would be more controls against drunk driving at times when there are more cyclists on the roads, which tends to be in the morning at weekends and public holidays, when some may still be driving home after a long night out.

A total of 58 cyclists died on Spanish roads in 2015, the last year for which there is complete data, while 18 riders have died so far in 2017. However, this figure only takes into account accidents on roads between towns and cities but not accidents in urban areas. Endit