Over 69,000 drivers caught speeding during week-long Guardia Civil campaign

The Dirección General de Tráfico and the Guardia Civil have concluded a major speed control campaign, checking over one million vehicles in just one week. More than 69,000 drivers were caught exceeding the limit, with a noticeable rise in proportional offences on conventional roads and a concerning increase in extreme speeding cases sent to the courts. Local and regional police forces also contributed to the operation to ensure road safety across all municipalities.

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The Dirección General de Tráfico conducted a recent speed monitoring and control campaign between the 3rd and 9th of August. During this operation, agents from the Traffic Group of the Guardia Civil established 3,466 control points and verified the speeds of 1,037,333 vehicles across the road network.

Out of the total number of vehicles checked, 69,231 drivers—equating to 6.7 per cent—were cited for speeding offences. This figure represents a 0.5 per cent increase compared to the previous campaign carried out in April of this year, when 6.2 per cent of checked vehicles were penalised.

When analysing the type of road, more than half of the violations (55.3 per cent) were recorded on motorways and dual carriageways, resulting in a total of 38,303 citations. Meanwhile, 28,599 drivers were caught exceeding the limit on conventional roads, representing 41.3 per cent of the overall total. Within towns and villages, 2,329 citations were issued, making up the remaining 3.4 per cent.

Despite the higher volume of total fines on motorways, the percentage of violations relative to the number of vehicles checked is actually higher on conventional roads and has been on the rise. Specifically, 7.05 per cent of the vehicles checked on these types of roads were cited, which is almost a full percentage point higher than in the April campaign. On motorways and dual carriageways, the percentage remained stable, with 6.37 per cent of drivers cited out of the total checked.

In terms of criminal offences, 19 drivers were brought before the courts for exceeding the speed limit by more than 80 km/h, a serious violation of Article 379.1 of the Penal Code. This particular figure has been steadily increasing and is now almost triple the number recorded just two years ago, underscoring the persistence of extreme motoring offences and highlighting a potential need to update current regulations for a stronger deterrent effect.

Finally, these results must also be added to the independent checks carried out by regional and local police forces within their respective areas of competence. This ongoing collaboration helps to reinforce the message that speed limits must be respected, regardless of the type of road being driven on.