Spain's DGT Launches Campaign to Combat Speeding

In the Canary Islands, more than 5,000 speeding violations were recorded during the last campaign in August 2025.

The Directorate General of Traffic (DGT) of the Ministry of the Interior has started a new speed‑control operation on Monday, running until 19 April. The campaign targets both conventional roads and urban streets throughout Spain, including the Canary Islands. In the previous action (August 2025), over 5,000 violations were issued in the archipelago.

The initiative is part of the World Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021‑2030 and the Spanish Road Safety Strategy 2030, which aim to halve the number of fatal road‑traffic victims by the end of the decade, according to a press release from the Government Delegation in the Canary Islands.

Traffic units of the Civil Guard, together with participating local police forces, will monitor high‑risk sections on both urban and inter‑urban routes—places where traffic exceeds the legal limit and where accident rates are high.

Because the campaign is preventive, drivers will be warned through temporary vertical signage that highlights the danger of inappropriate speed, which is the third most common contributing factor in traffic accidents.

“Approximately 30 % of fatal road accidents are caused by excessive or inappropriate speed,” said Anselmo Pestana, Government Delegate in the Canary Islands. “In Spain, this factor is present in more than 20 % of fatal crashes.”

Pestana emphasized the importance of intensive monitoring campaigns:

“Respecting speed limits is essential to save lives. It’s not just about avoiding fines; it’s about protecting your own life and that of others.”

He also warned that speeding not only raises the likelihood of a crash but also increases the severity of injuries:

“Excess speed amplifies the risk of accidents and leads to more severe injuries. These are unnecessary risks that endanger drivers, other vehicles, and pedestrians alike.”

During the August 2025 speed‑control operation, 1,300,000 vehicles were checked nationwide, resulting in 82,998 violations. In the Canary Islands specifically, the Civil Guard’s Traffic Unit inspected 106,353 vehicles, issuing 5,055 fines.

According to the European Road Safety Observatory’s 2021 thematic report on speed, between 10 % and 15 % of all accidents and 30 % of fatal accidents are directly attributable to excessive or inappropriate speed.

The report highlighted the prevalence of speeding among European drivers, based on the European Survey Research Association (ESRA) electronic survey on road‑user attitudes.

• 56.3 % of European drivers admitted deliberately exceeding speed limits in urban areas at least once in the month before the survey.
• In Spain, about 60 % of drivers reported speeding on conventional roads, nearly 50 % in urban zones, and over 60 % on highways and motorways.

In 2024, 1,785 people lost their lives on Spanish roads, 9,561 were hospitalized with injuries, and 125,084 suffered non‑hospitalized injuries.