Driving with an alcohol rate greater than 0.3 triples the risks of accident | Spain

Reduce the breathalyzer rate of 0.5 grams of alcohol per liter of blood (0.25 milligrams per liter of exhaled air) to 0.2 (0.1 in air) means lowering between three and five times the risk of suffering a traffic accident. Thus, a study prepared by the University Institute for Research in Traffic and Road Safety (INTRAS) of the University of Valencia, presented today in the morning in The General Directorate of Traffic (DGT). The Congress of Deputies is processing a proposition of the PSOE law to reduce and unify the breathalyzer rate in driving at 0.2 grams.

The study of INTRAS has analyzed the data of people deceased in road accidents, since there are official records, in 1950. As explained by the professor and director of the Research Group, Luis Montoro, in those 75 years they have died because of the alcohol linked to driving about 100,000 people. For this, they have analyzed the DGT databases, of the Road Safety Prosecutor’s Office, the National Institute of Forensic Toxicology and Sciences and the National DGT Road Safety Observatory. « The alcohol problem has been increasing in recent years. And there is a clear thing, if alcohol is present, the accident is much more serious, » said Montoro. In 2023, 32.7% of the people deceased in a road sinister to which the tests were tested during the autopsy gave a positive result in alcohol and The 117 pedestrians dead in abuse, 58.8% had also consumed alcohol.

Between 2018 and 2022, 467,117 accidents with victims were recorded in Spain, of which 18,727 were directly related to alcohol. This represents a 20.3% increase in just five years. To this, it is necessary that, as the National Institute of Toxicology has detected, there are more and more drivers that mix alcohol with drugs. « Alcohol, even in small quantities, can affect vision, coordination, reaction, perception of risk, decision -making, distractions, precision of maneuvers, fatigue, driver behavior and thus a long etcetera, » explained the director of the research group.

Montoro stressed that leading countries in road safety such as Sweden and Norway already have the rate of 0.1 since 1990. Since then, they have reduced victims between 12% and 15%; The deceased, 8% and offenders, between 16% and 18%. The study also proposes that the sanctions to the offenders be modified. The first option is to impose a fine of 300 euros and remove two or three points. The second would depend on the degree of breathalyzer: between 0.2 grams per liter of blood and 0.4 the sanction would be 200 euros and the detraction of two points. From 0.41 to 0.50, the offender would have to pay 300 euros and lose three points. The rest of the sanctions would be as it is today: up to a gram in blood, 500 euros and four points. If this limit exceeds, it reaches 1,000 euros and the six points, as explained by José Ignacio Lijarcio, one of the co -authors of the study.

Double alcohol and drug tests

Lijarcio stressed that a good information and awareness campaign is necessary for drivers to know the new limits and the need to adopt them. To do this, the media and educational, labor and formation of future drivers must also be involved. « You always have to remember that the last decision is from the driver, » the expert concluded. This has also recommended the increase in breathalyzer controls, especially in urban areas, as a visible strategy, and generalize the double alcohol and drug test.

The general director of Traffic (DGT), Pere Navarro, has been overwhelming with the need to reduce the legal rate: “The world is complicated and messages must be simple. It has ended. Alcohol and driving is incompatible. ” He also recalled that his approval means following the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), of the European Union, of the European Council of Transportation Security (ETSC) and groups and associations of victims and professionals. « We have to overcome the debate of whether I positively with one or two beers, with one or two wines, that if weight so much or if I am a man or woman. The 0.1 rate supposes in practice 0.0 and that you cannot drink alcohol if it is going to drive, » he added. The presentation of amendments to the proposal of law presented by the PSOE ends on April 22 and the final approval does not yet have a set date. « We all have a debt with so many victims and with the relatives of those victims. I hope this will be used at least to pay part of that guilt, » said Navarro.

The general director has also highlighted the importance of unifying the limits for all drivers. At present, professionals and novels have it smaller: 0.25 milliliters by exhaled air (0.5 grams in blood). He also recalled that he received in March 2024 the direct commission of the Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, to end the high road accidents derived from alcohol. « Even if we arrive at the Congress of Deputies, we already received numerous requests from both public administrations and private entities requesting a reduction in the legal limit. Even citizenship itself claims to move towards a 0.0 rate as a reflection of greater social awareness, » he said.

Navarro explained that the 0.0 rate has not been chosen because « we are serious and rigorous people »: « The message is the same as the one that Steve Wonder said 40 years ago of If you drink do not drive. That time has passed and we are at the same point. ”0.0, according to the Director General, is difficult to get that a simple liquor, a torrija or a stew can motivate that there is a positive rate in a control. Of the same opinion it has been Luis Montoro, which has indicated the ethanol can be given in very mature fruits and that some already have it in its composition (the Serbal has cited the Serbal and the Durian) Some pharmaceutical products, some falsely called 0.0 drinks and some cases of false positives.