All last week officers from the Guardia Civil, supported by colleagues in local and regional police forces, carried out a surveillance and control campaign on behalf of the General Directorate of Traffic, which focussed on the safety of vehicles used for the transport of goods and people. The campaign is part of the Operation Truck&Bus developed at a European level by the RoadPol association (European Road Surveillance Network).
The officers spent the week verifying that both the conditions in which this type of vehicle circulates, regardless of the country in which they are registered, and the drivers complied with traffic and road safety regulations.
Monitoring of aspects such as speed, driving and rest hours, the tachograph, excess weight, possible technical defects of the vehicle or the safety of the transported cargo were focused on, as well as the documentation of the vehicle and the driver is correct and valid, that the seat belt is used by all the occupants of the vehicles, that they are not driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs and that there were no devices used that cause distraction while driving.
Surveillance was be carried out on all kinds of roads and at any time of the day, especially on those roads where the intensity of traffic of this type of vehicle is greater.
Despite the fact that 68% of the vehicle fleet in Spain are passenger cars, the transport of goods has an important weight in terms of road safety, since it represents the second most numerous type of vehicle that circulates on our roads, with the 14% of the fleet, and are involved in 13% of the claims with victims that occurred in 2020 in Spain. In addition, in case of accidents, these are more severe due to their masses and dimensions.
Buses, meanwhile, represent 0.2% of the total vehicle fleet and are involved in 2% of accidents with victims.
In 2020, trucks weighing more than 3,500 kg were involved in 2,705 accidents with victims, in which 199 people died, of which 45 were truck occupants and the rest of the deceased (154) were traveling in other vehicles involved in the accident. In addition, 75% of these accidents took place on interurban roads.
Regarding buses, in 2020 there were 1,362 accidents with victims in which a vehicle of this type was involved and in which 18 people died, 2 of them bus occupants and 11 occupants of other vehicles involved in the accident. In this case, 90% of these accidents took place on urban roads.
In the last truck and bus surveillance campaign, which took place in October, officers from the Guardia Civil Traffic Group controlled a total of 12,360 vehicles, of which 2,545 truck drivers and 48 bus drivers were reported for failing to comply with any of the precepts of the regulations.
Among the most numerous infractions are, among others, those motivated by excessive driving hours, those related to the Technical Inspection, those related to mandatory documentation, either of the vehicle, or of the driver, in addition to those motivated by excess weight. or poor arrangement of the load and for not using the seat belt.
