There is a campaign entitled “En La Carretera, Cerveza Sin”, which attempts to get the message across about not drinking and driving. An initiative by the Brewers of Spain and the national traffic directorate, it involves "Sin Riders", biker-ambassadors for the campaign, and the offer of beer "sin alcohol", i.e. alcohol-free.
This is the sixteenth such campaign, and the town hall in Palma is part of it; councillor for public safety Angelica Pastor is stressing the town hall's commitment to ensuring safety on the roads.
There will be an increase in the number of police controls during December; fairly obviously, there are a number of fiesta days during the month as well as numerous company and other meals/events. Pastor is reminding citizens, in case they were unaware, that they are obliged to collaborate with the police in being tested.
So far this year the local police have undertaken 80 controls, an increase of fifteen over 2015. Although offences for drink-driving have been going down, there were still 163 positive tests up to the end of October.
Meanwhile, a report by Unespa, the insurance businesses' association suggests that drivers between the ages of 18 and 35 in the Balearics are more likely to have road accidents than around two-thirds of drivers in Spain of the same ages. The report ranks Balearic drivers at number eighteen out of 54, and observes that there is virtually no difference between men and women: they are equally likely to have accidents.
The report's title, "Youth at the wheel: why it is necessary to be cautious", seems somewhat misleading given the age range, but this allows a comparison of driving across the range. The probability of an eighteen-year-old having an accident is four times greater than a 35-year-old.
The parts of Spain where accidents are most likely to occur are the two north African cities of Ceuta and Melilla, followed closely Las Palmas in third place. The safest places, it would seem, are Soria, Huesca, Ciudad Real, Segovia, Cuenca and Zamora.