2023-06-29 12:48:39
The General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) forecasts that there will be almost 95 million long-distance journeys by road during the coming months of July and August, which is 1.75% more than the actual movements registered last summer, when they surpassed those of 2019, the last year before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Traffic foresees the displacement of a total of 45.6 million vehicles in July and 49.3 million in August, and this same Friday it will launch the first of the phases of the special device designed for this summer.
The DGT indicated that, as usual in recent years, the departure and return of the holidays will be carried out “in a staggered manner and in shorter periods”, since they will coincide on numerous occasions with weekends.
For this reason, Traffic will establish special traffic regulation and control devices during all the weekends of the summer period, which will be intensified the first weekends of each month with the so-called “departure or return operations”.
In addition, there will be four special operations: first summer operation (Friday, June 30 to Sunday, July 2), August 1 operation (Friday, July 28 to Tuesday, August 1), August 15 operation (August 11 to 15). and summer return operation (Thursday, August 31 to Sunday, September 3).
One of the novelties of this summer is that from this Saturday, July 1, it will not be mandatory to place the warning triangles on motorways and dual carriageways in the event of stopping the vehicle due to accident or breakdown. However, its use is still mandatory when these circumstances occur on conventional roads.
The DGT has published an instruction in which this exception is included, motivated by the high number of people killed on motorways and dual carriageways in recent years. The average number of pedestrians killed after being run over after getting out of the vehicle in the last five years has been 22 people.
Other reasons are the traffic conditions that occur on motorways and highways, in which there is a high intensity of traffic and high speed, and that the data of accidents in this type of roads in which there has been a run over and in which that there was an immobilized vehicle indicate that driving along the shoulder, staying on it, trying to repair a fault or even placing and removing the triangles significantly increases the risk of being run over.
In addition, the DGT points out that some countries, such as the United Kingdom, have eliminated its use on express roads and others are studying it.
“In view of all these reasons, and taking into account that the placement of warning triangles is not feasible on motorways and highways due to seriously compromising the safety of people, having to travel on foot on the road, their use is exempted. placement and, therefore, it will not be a reason for complaint exclusively in these fast lanes, “he said.
The instruction published this Thursday will be without effect on January 1, 2026, the date on which it will be mandatory for all drivers to carry the V16 signal in the vehicle, which is what will put the definitive end to the warning triangles of danger.
driving in summer
On the other hand, the DGT pointed out that traffic in summer presents different characteristics to those that occur at other times of the year, such as more long trips on weekdays and especially during weekends, as well as “less conflict” in the accesses to the big cities in the peak hour of entrances and exits of the workplaces.
More vehicle traffic on secondary roads, an increase in night journeys, “conflictive traffic” on roads that connect coastal towns and coastal tourist areas with the beaches, more cyclists and pedestrians on the road, greater circulation of foreign-registered vehicles on the road whose Drivers are not used to the itineraries they travel on are other characteristics.
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Of this transit of foreign-registered vehicles, those that move to third countries stand out, such as citizens from other European nations, who stay in their countries of origin in Africa. In this sense, more than 700,000 vehicles are expected to circulate on Spanish roads through the so-called Operation Paso del Estrecho.
In addition, there is the Passage to Portugal, for which the DGT, in coordination with the Portuguese authorities, will serve another 250,000 more vehicles that will circulate through Spanish territory from France to Portuguese lands for vacation purposes.
special device
To safeguard the safety of road users, the operation has the full availability of DGT resources, both human (agents from the Civil Guard Traffic Group, civil servants from the Traffic Management Centers, patrols of helicopters and personnel in charge of maintaining equipment and installing road measures) and technicians (fixed and mobile speed control cameras, as well as helicopters, drones, cameras and camouflaged vans to control the use of mobile phones and seat belts ).
In order to favor circulation in areas with more vehicles during special operations and on weekends, the DGT will adopt measures such as installing reversible and additional lanes with cones and beaconing during peak traffic hours, and establishing alternative itineraries.
Likewise, it will paralyze the works on the highways, it will limit the holding of sports events and other events that involve the occupation of the road, and it will restrict the circulation of trucks in general and those that transport dangerous goods, as well as special transport in certain sections. , dates and times.
The DGT recommends that drivers plan their trips along the safest routes to avoid unforeseen events and find out about the state of the roads.
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