The abertis foundation today launched a road safety action in Madrid and Barcelona focused on the busiest nightlife areas of both cities. With the aim of making people enjoying a night out aware of the potentially fatal consequences of irresponsible behaviour, a group of volunteers with spinal cord injuries as a result of a traffic accident will remind people of the danger of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, as well as distractions at the wheel.

This action is a pilot scheme which is being carried out on the evenings of 16 and 17 May from 10pm to 1am in the Interchange of Moncloa (Paseo de Moret) and in the Paseo Pintor Rosales, in Madrid, and from 12am to 3am in Carrer Tuset and Carrer Almogàvers in Barcelona. At each point there will be 4 to 6 volunteers from the Red Cross, the ONCE Foundation, the Institut Guttmann and the disabled sports teams of Club Joventut Badalona and Regal Barça UNES.

The institutional launch event in Barcelona was attended by the President of abertis and the abertis foundation, Salvador Alemany, and the Deputy Mayor of the Barcelona City Council, Joaquim Forn, as well as representatives from the organisations involved in the action, the Catalan Red Cross, the Institut Guttmann, Club Joventut Badalona and Regal Barça UNES. The event in Madrid was attended by the city Mayor, Ana Botella, the Director General of the Spanish Traffic Agency, María Seguí, the Director of the abertis foundation, Sergi Loughney, and members of the Spanish Red Cross and the ONCE Foundation.