A Spanish driver astounded police this weekend when he was found to be under the influence of every drug officers could check for.
On Saturday, police near the town of Carcastillo pulled over a car carrying six people, all piled on top of each other and none wearing seatbelts. The passengers appeared to be drunk, as did their driver. But when officers tested the man, they realized he had been doing more than just drinking, Euronews reported.
As well as an illegal level of alcohol, high levels of cannabis, amphetamines/methamphetamine, cocaine and opiates were all found in the man's system, making it surprising he could drive at all.
Local police tracked the car after receiving a tip off from a neighbor in Carcastillo at around 8:30 a.m. local time, who told them multiple people were clambering into a vehicle clearly under the influence of alcohol. In total, there were four men and two women squeezed into the car, all aged between 26 and 29.
The driver has been fined a total of €2,000—around $2,280. Half of the fine was for failing the alcohol test and the other was for failing the drugs test. The driver had six points deducted from his driving license for each offense, meaning he now faces a road ban. The man's car was also impounded, Spanish news agency Europa Press reported.
Last year, Spanish police began a new anti-drunk driving enforcement drive, aiming for an extra 130,000 spot tests of the country's drivers. Authorities took the action after a spate of cyclist deaths blamed on drivers under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. In 2016, 6 percent of drivers in Spain involved in casualty accidents were found to be under the influence of alcohol, while 12 percent were under the influence of drugs.
Drunk driving has long been the bane of traffic enforcement officials and other road users. But in recent years, there have been growing efforts to combat driving while under the influence of drugs. Last year in the U.S., under-the-influence drivers were more likely to be on drugs than drunk for the first time ever.
A study found that 43 percent of U.S. drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2015 had been using either a legal or illegal drug, compared with 37 percent whose alcohol levels were above the legal limit. Cannabis was the most common drug found, linked to one third of all fatal accidents in 2015. Amphetamines came second, related to just under 10 percent of all deadly incidents.
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