Traffic accidents in the Guadalajara metro area have declined by 50 percent since Jalisco’s Transportation Dpartment (Semov) launched the Salvando Vidas campaign against drunk drivers four years ago.
Coupled with steep fines and the detention of intoxicated motorists, the program of random spot checks has proven effective in changing risky behavior and making good on the title slogan “saving lives.”
That is the message Semov’s Traffic Security Director Carlos Enrique Alvarado Ron brought to representatives of key expat organizations at a conference held Monday, November 13 at the Lake Chapala Society. His main objective was to explain that the success of Salvando Vidas in Guadalajara prompted authorities to expand the program to areas outside the metropolis, targeting the lakeshore region and other zones known for a high rates of highway accidents.
Semov has identified alcohol consumption, failure to utilize seat belts, infant car seats and motorcycle helmets, and distractions caused by cell phones as the principal factors that cause injuries and fatalities in auto accidents.
To demonstrate the effect alcohol has on visual perception and reflexes, Alvarado’s staff called on volunteers from the audience to participate in a quick exercise. The guinea pigs were asked to walk a zigzag through a series of orange cones set up on the floor. They repeated the exercise first wearing goggles gauged to simulate the distortion of eye sight caused by drinking a couple a beers and then switching to lenses equivalent to intoxication well over the legal limit. Each change notably augmented the degree of stumbling and disorientation.
Officials noted that Jalisco has set a low bar for driving under the influence. Motorists testing from .25 to .41 of exhaled air in breathalyzer exams are punished with fines of 10,000 to 14,000 pesos. Those blowing above .41 are subject to 12 to 36 hours’ confinement and impoundment of their vehicles.