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ALSA and Fundación MAPFRE are joining the DGT campaign starting today with the aim of raising awareness among drivers about the importance of not consuming alcohol, illegal drugs, or medications, substances present in 43% of the drivers who lost their lives last year, as well as alerting about distracted or inattentive driving, which in 2016 was behind 25% of accidents and 31% of fatalities.

In this way, in the coming months, ALSA, with the support of Fundación MAPFRE, will disseminate two key messages on the back of 80 of its buses to promote road safety and contribute to the reduction of traffic accidents.

The advertisements that will be disseminated are "While driving, drugs or alcohol, zero tolerance" and "While driving, each message can be the last", messages that both entities hope will resonate in society and that represent an important contribution to the "Zero Accidents" objective, for which they work daily through activities they carry out, inside and outside of Spain.

Jaime Moreno, Deputy Director of Operations and Mobility of the Directorate General of Traffic, who visited the headquarters of the passenger transport company, located in Madrid, thanked both entities for their support for road safety, as well as their interest in transmitting a message of "collaboration, prudence and respect for compliance with traffic regulations". The representative of the DGT also highlighted the importance of society joining this type of campaign, "so necessary to prevent injuries and traffic accidents."

Francisco Iglesias, CEO of ALSA, who also participated in the event, stressed that "road safety is a shared responsibility, in which civil society, the administration and operators must be involved". In this sense, he indicated that the Spanish company carries out significant investments in technology and training with the main objective of improving safety. Proof of this, he pointed out, are the more than 2,000 preventive drug and alcohol tests that in 2017 were carried out on drivers of its staff, as well as the gradual incorporation of the "alcolock" system to the new vehicles that are incorporated into its fleet and that prevents starting a bus in case of detecting the presence of alcohol in the driver.

Jesus Monclús, Director of Prevention and Road Safety of Fundación MAPFRE, also emphasized that road safety is the responsibility of the entire society, as well as public and private entities that join the effort to promote safe habits among citizens. "Among all, he indicated, we must be able to fight against this authentic social scourge that accumulates thousands and thousands of victims every day." In this line, he stressed that "our society cannot tolerate that 43% of the deceased drivers test positive in alcohol and other drug controls because it means that about 800 people lose their lives each year in Spain in accidents involving this type of substance."

Last year, ALSA and Fundación MAPFRE launched the campaign #tefaltaalgo, an initiative that was also joined by the Spanish Confederation of Bus Transport (CONFEBUS) and other companies in the sector to raise awareness among society about the importance of using the seat belt when traveling by bus.

Madrid, June 4, 2018. For more information you can contact Nuria del Olmo, from the Communication Department of MAPFRE. Telephone: 91 581 22 16 and 606 53 78 89. Email: ndelolm@fundacionmapfre.org. Also with Pablo Gómara, Director of Communication and CSR of ALSA. Telephones: 91 754 65 06 and 686 46 49 72. E-mail: pgomara@alsa.es