Palma Local Police have detected a driver travelling at 140 kilometres per hour (km/h) on the Valldemossa road - with a speed limit of 40 km/h. According to information provided by the police on Monday, the incident occurred on 5 April at around 10.36 p.m., when officers from the Night Unit (Unoc) detected a car travelling well above the speed limit at speed trap.
The vehicle was caught travelling at 138 km/h, more than three times the maximum speed limit. The officers began the process of locating and identifying the driver of the vehicle and reported the incident to the judicial authorities. The police remind drivers that driving a motor vehicle or moped at a speed exceeding the legal limit by 60 km/h on urban roads is a crime against road safety.
It can carry penalties of up to six months in prison, a fine of up to £12,000 or up to 90 days of community service and, in all cases, up to four years’ disqualification from driving motor vehicles and mopeds. Palma Local Police emphasise the importance of respecting speed limits to ensure the safety of road users, as speeding is a determining factor in the severity of traffic accidents.
On Monday 7 April, the Directorate General for Traffic (DGT) launched a new intensive surveillance campaign focused on speed limits, as inappropriate speed is considered one of the main causes of road accidents. The data shows that this factor is the third most common in traffic accidents, especially in those with fatalities. The DGT reminds drivers that travelling above the established limits carries sanctions, both financial and in the form of losing points on their driving licence.
On its official website, the organisation has a detailed table specifying the amounts of the fines, which can range from 100 to 600 euros, as well as the loss of between 2 and 6 points, depending on the speed limit of the road where the offence was committed.
Furthermore, it is emphasised that driving more than 60 km/h over the speed limit on urban roads or more than 80 km/h on interurban roads is considered a crime against road safety. On sections of motorways and dual carriageways leading into cities with speed limits below 100 km/h, speeding will be penalised with the corresponding fine, but administrative and criminal sanctions will only be applied if the speed limit is exceeded.
The worrying accident figures have motivated this new surveillance campaign. In 2024, within the competence of the DGT, a total of 218 fatal accidents were registered in which excessive speed was a contributing factor. For this reason, until Sunday 13th April, both the Guardia Civil Traffic Group and the local and regional police forces that join the initiative will intensify controls in sections of road where there is a risk associated with speed and at points where speed limits are regularly exceeded, coinciding with a high accident rate.
This campaign is in line with the recommendations of international and European organisations, which urge the bodies responsible for road safety in each country to ensure compliance with established speed limits. As it is coordinated at European level by the RoadPol (European Roads Policing Network) association, the surveillance will be carried out simultaneously in all the member countries. In the last campaign, which took place in July 2024, officers from the Guardia Civil Traffic Group and local police from the 103 participating councils checked a total of 1,421,669 vehicles, issuing 64,172 fines for speeding offences.
Beyond these periodic campaigns, the DGT has various tools at its disposal to monitor compliance with speed limits, such as fixed speed cameras, mobile speed cameras and aerial control from the organisation’s helicopters. So far this year, 41 new speed cameras have come into operation, of which 28 are fixed and 15 are section cameras. These new control points form part of a plan that envisages the installation of a total of 122 additional radars throughout 2025. With this new campaign and the reinforcement of surveillance resources, the DGT seeks to make drivers aware of the importance of respecting the speed limits established on each road, as speeding continues to be one of the main causes of road accidents in Spain.