Spain Asks For Help Policing Foreign Drivers

Spain´s DGT has called for strengthened mechanisms to be implemented to simplify sanctions of foreign drivers, after Brussels denounces the lack of cooperation between countries.

DGT officials in Malta, where the EU High Level Road Safety Group meeting was held, said that “The volume of the [fines] that are processed makes the system [approved in a Community directive] insufficient in terms of efficiency and efficacy”, reporting that only 50% of the files opened end with the fine being paid, according to a Brussels report.

The request from the Spanish Government comes after a Commission report published late last year reproached the twenty-eight countries who had not “exploited the full potential” of the electronic system designed to exchange information on traffic offences. In this regard, Brussels denounced the lack of cooperation between countries. For example, Portugal, who does not exchange data.

The DGT want to take action against more dangerous foreign drivers who do not maintain the safety distance, carry out dangerous overtaking or parking, putting safety at risk. Three modalities that are not considered in the current Community directive, which only allows to provide data for speeding, failing to stop at a traffic light, riding without a helmet, the use of the mobile phones, not using the belt, driving in a prohibited lane, and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

“We are going to work to be the first,” said Gregorio Serrano, Director General of the DGT, after the EU published the latest data. “We are told at the meeting of the European Union that Spain is the fourth safest country in road safety. About traffic accidents. According to this report, Spain is still among the countries with the lowest rate of victims, although it has increased by 2% in 2016 compared to 2015. Last year, 37 deaths per million inhabitants were recorded, compared to 36 in the previous year – in 2010, they were 56 per million, which implies a decrease of 33%.