Spain has a problem with motorcyclist accidents. In 2023, the number of deaths in accidents in this group increased 19% compared to the previous year (it went from 254 fatalities to 299) and the trend in recent months continues to show no signs of reversing. Aware that the situation is unsustainable, the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) wants to address the issue with actions that go beyond traditional awareness campaigns.
Thus, it plans not only to make various regulatory changes, but also to increase control of people who ride motorcycles. For the latter, the head of the aforementioned organization, Pere Navarro, has indicated that during this summer he will reinforce surveillance through the use of plainclothes agents who will travel on camouflaged motorcycles.
He said this yesterday in statements to journalists after speaking at the presentation of the study by the Mapfre Foundation and the Spanish Road Association How to save 300 lives a year. The Director of Traffic did not give great details about the measure, which will not solve the problem, but can help deter those drivers who engage in illegal and reckless behavior while driving.
According to the information that the organization gave when it announced the launch of a pilot project to carry out controls with camouflaged motorcycles, the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard has a fleet of 34 copies. However, Navarro has not specified how many of them will be used for surveillance this summer; He has simply limited himself to saying that there will be a “few”.
What is clear is that they will be deployed especially on Saturdays and Sundays on conventional stretches of road with a high concentration of motorists. Statistics indicate that the majority of fatal accidents are concentrated on weekends and on these types of roads. More than half of motorcyclists die from going off the road. The average age of these victims is between 35 and 54 years, with more than ten years of driving license and with motorcycles of higher power (more than 500 cm3).
In July 2020, the motorist platform SocialDrive shared a publication on Specifically, it indicated that it was a gray BMW R1150 RT.
The DGT is not the only traffic agency that has this type of unlabeled frames. In Catalonia, the Servei Català del Trànsit (SCT) also has some units that carry out fixed surveillance controls (establishing specific and strategic viewing points) and dynamic surveillance. These motorcycles without visual identification have the support of uniformed patrols, which are responsible for intercepting the offenders that the plainclothes officers have previously detected and will notify them of the complaints.
