The General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) is conducting this month, between the 9th and the 15th, a special surveillance campaign with the aim of raising the awareness of drivers on the dangers caused by distractions behind the wheel. And there were all kinds. Agents caught a woman brushing her teeth and a man eating with a spoon and talking on his cell phone while (with which hand?) driving his car.
During the week that the campaign lasted, the agents of the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard controlled a total of 364,165 vehicles circulating on conventional roads, carrying out 7,989 controls of which they reported 6,631 drivers for taking actions that represent a distraction while driving.
Despite the risk it has and the loss of 6 license points attached to it, the biggest offense continues to be driving while holding a mobile phone in your hand, with 33.1% of the complaints made. Specifically, of the 6,719 complaints filed, 2,223 were for manual use of a mobile phone while driving.
As usual, after mobile phone driving is interrupted, the most common violations continue to be wearing a seat belt while driving, usually when the agents find them and where 442 drivers are charged, or the use of a helmet or Headphones connected to sound reproducing devices, apart from mobile phones, is a behavior that is prohibited because it also represents a distraction while driving and for which 273 drivers have been sanctioned.
Other distractions
Other actions that most involved distraction while driving were reading (134), looking for things (93), being distracted by other car occupants (71) or driving while eating (48). In this last case, agents surprised a man who was eating with a spoon and talking on his cell phone while driving.
In addition to all of these specific actions, agents made 1,198 complaints for other violations that caused the distraction of driving, among them, a driver who brushed his teeth behind the wheel. , something that, according to sources from the Civil Guard, probably also spread “quite a bit. some “occasionally” put on makeup while driving.
The prevention also made it possible to identify and punish 1,260 drivers who, in addition to being reported distracted while driving, drove with an alcohol level higher than the permissible level and 884 who tested positive for other drugs.
