Out to get you

This week the Guardia Civil are focussing their attention on speeding motorists.

When they performed a similar exercise last year, the Guardia Civil checked 921,375 vehicles and found 3.4% were exceeding the speed limits. Five of the drivers caught were exceeding the speed limit by 80kms per hour with one driver clocking 237 kms per hour whilst drunk. When you see the way that many drive here in Spain, I can only think that there must have been a hell of a lot who got away without being caught.

Looking at the statistics for March in Alicante province, 55 people were charged for drunk driving, 41 for not having a license and 2 for driving at excessive speed i.e. over twice the speed limit.

When you consider the number of cars on the road, the odds are not great for you being caught. Even still, driving sensibly is a matter for your social conscious rather than an attempt to avoid being collared by the police.

Ask most Brits about their opinion of Spanish drivers and they will tell you:

a) they rarely  use the indicators to signal their intentions

b) they perform the most dangerous passing manoeuvres

c) they regularly drive with a mobile phone in one hand, trying to steer and change gears with the other

and in towns like ours, if the shortest route to where they are going is the wrong direction on a one way street, they will take it.