Madrid (EFE).- The road safety coordinating prosecutor, Luis del Río, believes that traffic regulations are “quite demanding”, although he is open to studying the modification of the current blood alcohol levels until reaching a zero rate. Although he assures: “I would settle for compliance with current legislation.”
In an interview with EFE, Del Río recalls that driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs continues to play “a leading role” in crimes against road safety.
In fact, of the 104,660 convictions in 2022, 59,461 were directed at drivers who were driving with an alcohol level above the legal limit (0.25 milligrams per liter in exhaled air) or who had used drugs.
“Of course, it can be studied if the alcohol rates are modified”
Asked if it would be necessary to go towards a zero rate of blood alcohol when driving, he replied: “Of course, it is possible to study whether the maximum rates are modified but, in principle, I would be satisfied with complying with what the current legislation says.”
While proving alcohol consumption in drivers through tests is easy, the same is not true in the case of drugs, an area in which, he acknowledges, “there is still something to improve in terms of technologies to detect” consumption.
The prosecutor assures that from the legal point of view, attempts have been made to ensure that the traffic police always act “in the most rigorous way possible with all the guarantees to be able to use the results obtained in court.”
Del Río specifies that “a great effort” is being made to instruct agents in the detection of drug use at the wheel, a part of which “are duly trained, without prejudice -he adds- that there is still room for improvement.”
Loss of citizen awareness behind the wheel due to the pandemic
The prosecutor has attributed the increase in traffic crimes registered last year to the fact that road awareness has been lost due to the restrictions that were established during the pandemic and advocates working on prevention, education and punishment.
“Before the pandemic we had achieved a fairly good citizen awareness in terms of road safety; However, after it, it seems that part of it has been lost and surely there will be citizens who do not perceive “traffic crimes” with the same intensity as other types of crimes ”, he points out.
He affirms emphatically that there is no impunity in this type of crime. “Whenever they are detected, the corresponding certificates are prepared and sent to the judicial authority. Another thing is the subjective sensation that the citizen may have that the conduct is more or less serious.
The prosecutor recognizes that recidivist drivers are a problem that must be specifically addressed.
From a legal point of view, the application of the aggravating circumstance of recidivism included in the Criminal Code is urged, “but it may also be necessary to adopt other types of health and social measures to give the necessary attention to these cases,” he points out.
The sorrows, intense enough
In his opinion, the penalties are “intense enough” so that the citizen who has committed a crime against road safety knows that it has consequences, both prison sentences and the payment of a fine, the deprivation of the right to drive motor vehicles or mopeds and even the confiscation of the vehicle “in very serious cases”.
He does not believe that, in general, judges are “lax” with trafficking crimes as some association of victims has denounced, although he admits that there may be certain decisions that the prosecutor does not share. In such cases, the decision is appealed.
Del Río acknowledges that it is “quite complicated” to act from the Prosecutor’s Office against black spots on the roads (those that concentrate a large number of accidents), although it does do so indirectly by informing the corresponding public administration when one of them is detected.
“It has already been done on occasion and we will continue to do so in the future,” he says.
Scooters and bikes: the safety of users must be guaranteed
The irruption of scooters and the increasing use of bicycles in cities poses, in his opinion, “the eternal problem of balancing the interests at stake.”
“An attempt is being made to promote another type of more sustainable mobility, but the personal safety of pedestrians and also of motor vehicles with which they may come into conflict must be guaranteed,” he warns.
In this sense, remember that “there are many concurrent powers and the different administrations must be agreed.”
Although the Road Safety Prosecutor’s Office does not carry out an “exhaustive” control over the procedures initiated for serious infractions among scooter users, it is clear that there have already been some criminal proceedings in which they have been involved, either as victims, or as violators of some traffic regulation.
At a time when many citizens have already started their vacations or are going to do so, a period in which road trips are intensifying (95 million trips are expected during July and August), Del Río calls for maximum compliance with road safety regulations to avoid both personal and family tragedies.