The Road to Zero Alcohol is Ahead

The figures are dramatic. More than half of drivers who died on the roads tested positive for alcohol, drugs or other prohibited substances while driving during the last year recorded, also confirming that between 30 and 50 percent of all fatal incidents are now directly linked to alcohol consumption while driving in Spain.

Although the 2024 figures are still considered provisional, as more deaths might still be recorded, no less than 1,154 people did not return home to their loved ones, having lost their lives as a consequence.

Faced with this reality, which has already been described as “unacceptable” by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, the Government has decided to cut to the chase and introduce new policies against alcohol which, in practice, we could almost say seek to punish all consumption, however minimal. When it comes to alcohol, the only safe level is zero.

The first line of this new policy has already been implemented and will soon be confirmed in a new law, whereas the maximum alcohol level allowed while driving in Spain will drop from the current 0.5 g/l of alcohol in the blood to just 0.2 grams, and from the current 0.25 g/l in expired air to 0.1 grams in expired air. These figures will undoubtedly be among the lowest in Europe, confirming the DGT’s total commitment to eradicating this problem at the wheel.

Even though the rate is not 0.0, in practice the new rule will mean that virtually any alcohol consumption will be penalised, as the DGT also confirms according to its studies. The problem is that proposing an official rate of 0.0 can technically generate legal problems, as a minimal amount can be detected even in food cooked with alcohol, for example, which could be grounds for a sanction without representing a risk.

According to DGT graphs, just one third of a beer and a single small glass of wine could put you over the limit to be imposed in Spain, so the only guarantee in the near future of not giving a positive result in a breathalyser test will be not to drink any alcohol if you are going to drive.

And you will not “get away with it” quite so easy, as the DGT figures reveal, in 2024 alone, more than 6 million roadside checks have been confirmed throughout Spain, an absolute record for this type of test.

Moreover, it has been revealed that a new and innovative technology has been launched in Spain for detecting alcohol on the road, through new breathalysing devices that the Guardia Civil already has for controls and that do not require the driver to blow into a tube, like the traditional devices.

Initially intended for use when drivers have a medical problem that prevents them from blowing their breath, such as asthma, or even when people are injured or lying on stretchers in ambulances, these new breathalysers work by approximation, being able to detect the presence of alcohol in the air simply by exhaling normally close to it. 

Although the results may be less effective than those of traditional breathalysers, the aim is that the DGT, once the suspicion of a positive result has been confirmed, can subsequently confirm the results using traditional portable or desktop breathalysers or blood tests, which are much more precise and effective.