The Guardia Civil and local police forces in Majorca are currently engaged in a campaign of controls to check on driver distractions.
The controls are on different types of roads, will last until Sunday and are part of a nationwide campaign. There was a campaign of this type at the same time last year. This resulted in 232 drivers being caught. Overwhelmingly, this was for using a phone while driving; 182 out of the 232.
Distraction can result in accidents such as leaving the road, colliding with cars in front or knocking people down. Up to the end of August, there were 15 fatal accidents in the Balearics on main roads. Four deaths were as a result of vehicles leaving the road; two people were knocked down and killed; one death was the consequence of a rear-end shunt.
The national government delegation in the Balearics says that factors commonly associated with driver distraction are alcohol, fatigue and stress. On phone use, the delegation observes that younger drivers use phones more than older drivers. Distraction makes them more vulnerable as they have less experience of driving.