The three previous campaigns (between June and December 2020) involved a total of 5,420 breathalyser tests, 4.31% of them positive, and 274 drug-driving tests, of which 33.57% were positive.
One of the main priorities for the City Police is to improve road safety in the city. Because of this, it is essential to bring about a cultural change in people’s driving habits, circulation and mobility, to help towards compliance with basic traffic regulations and cut road accidents, especially the number of victims.
To achieve these goals, behaviour which poses a risk needs to be corrected. This includes drink-driving and driving under the influence of drugs. To this end, a campaign with checkpoints around the whole city will run from today until Tuesday 16 February.
The check will particularly target riders of motorbikes and mopeds with breathalyser tests, given the high accident rate among this group. Riders are particularly vulnerable and the number of accidents involving them has gone up in recent years.
In this respect, the Local Road Safety Plan 2019-2022 sets out thirteen priority indicators for reducing accident rates. One of the goals is to get the number of positive breathalyser tests below 1% with random preventive checks.
The operation will be backed up with preventive messages on information panels around the ring roads and the rest of the city, to raise awareness among drivers and riders and improve road safety.
In addition, given the situation caused by Covid-19, the Central Traffic Unit operated by the City Police will also be joining in with the campaign through its surveillance and checks on compliance with the limits on the circulation of people and vehicles.