number of radar fines issued for speeding on Spanish motorways went up by 8% in the last week of May, compared with figures for that week of 2010, after the decrease of 50% which was seen after the first month of the new 110 kph speed limit.
The news was given at a press conference on Thursday by Pepe Navarro, General Director of the DGT Traffic Authority, and Justo Zambrana, Sub-Secretary at the Interior Ministry. Both felt that the figures may show that drivers are now more relaxed about the lower limit.
Zambrana said that, while it is difficult to make a correlation between a slower average speed and the number of accidents, EFE reports that he noted that fatalities dropped by 9% between January and May. The new speed limit came into effect in March.
‘What seems clear,’ he said, ‘is that it is safer and there is less possibility of having an accident at a slower speed’.
He said the government will probably decide on whether to extend the measure or not at the last Cabinet meeting of the legislature on June 24. It was brought in as a temporary measure to save fuel and is initially in place until June 30.
He was unable to give an estimate of how much fuel has been saved, but joked, ‘It’s elementary, my dear Watson’, that driving more slowly saves fuel.
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