How the Civil Guard Tracks Social Media for 'Exhibitionist' Drivers

The Traffic Investigation and Analysis Group (GIAT) of the Civil Guard's Traffic Division has targeted drivers who use social media as a showcase for their reckless driving behaviours, particularly those boasting about driving at speeds exceeding 200 km/h.

Driving at extreme speeds, such as over 200 km/h, not only constitutes a very serious offence that carries heavy fines and the loss of driving licence points, but it can also be classified as a crime against road safety, especially if it poses a concrete danger to the life or physical integrity of people.

The Civil Guard has intensified its digital surveillance efforts, tracking posts on various platforms where individuals flaunt their speeding excesses, recordings of their speedometers showing alarming figures, and videos of reckless driving. The aim of this specialised unit is to identify and bring to justice these alleged offenders who put their own lives and those of other road users at serious risk.

According to the DGT, a notable case was detected by GIAT members in Segovia, who reported an investigation into a 23-year-old who appeared on social media driving a high-end vehicle at 264 km/h on a motorway near the Segovian town of Cuéllar. After identification work, GIAT members also found that the individual did not have a driving licence, and the vehicle belonged to his father, implicating the parent as a necessary accomplice. The corresponding proceedings were sent to the court, and the young man could face two prison sentences of between 3 and 6 months at the end of the judicial process.

"We see these types of cases very often, young people taking their parents' car, often without their knowledge, and committing reckless acts behind the wheel. They record themselves thinking they won't be recognised, or simply don't consider the consequences of posting such a video on social media," explains Captain Garciamartín, head of the Central Traffic Investigation Group, based in Madrid. The reality is that, in a high percentage of cases, the offender is identified.

GIAT uses digital analysis tools and investigative techniques to gather evidence of these illegal behaviours. Once offenders are identified, they are located and subsequently reported to judicial authorities. Social media, which for some is a means of showcasing supposed "feats," is becoming incriminating evidence for the Civil Guard.

Monitoring the content uploaded daily to social media seems, at first glance, an unmanageable task for the more than 200 GIAT specialists spread across Spain, "about 15 in the Central GIAT, and between 3 and 5 per province. And we can't cover everything, because social media is just one of our missions," acknowledges Captain Garciamartín. Generally, the GIATs of each sector or peripheral areas handle possible crimes committed in their own territories, although if the evidence involves several areas or has a certain degree of complexity, the Central GIAT undertakes the investigation.

To sweep social media, GIAT technicians have technological aids. One of them is the LINCE system, an online multidisciplinary platform of the Civil Guard with multiple functionalities, such as locating and managing incidents on roads, creating periodic alerts, automatically distributing information to other systems or users via email or messaging, etc.

In GIAT, LINCE is used as a tracker for crimes against road safety, narrowing the search by introducing predetermined filters and keywords. "Additionally, citizens send us photos or videos of alleged infractions or crimes in this area, whether uploaded to social media or not, which reach us either through the mailbox of our peripheral communication office or from the mailbox of the Civil Guard's General Directorate," explains the chief captain of the Central GIAT in the magazine DGT Road Safety.

Once the results from LINCE and citizen messages are obtained, GIAT analyses all the audiovisual material, although this does not always have a follow-up. "Sometimes they send us videos of behaviours that do not even constitute an infraction, or recorded outside Spain, so we have no option to act. It may also be that what we observe is only subject to administrative sanction. In that case, we refer it to the corresponding Headquarters to act ex officio or to the sub-sector to fill out the complaint form. Beforehand, if possible, we identify the reported person. Thus, with the audiovisual evidence, they initiate the administrative sanctioning process," states the captain.

In 2023, GIAT investigators received 155 messages from citizens reporting allegedly criminal behaviours related to road safety, of which 119 were ultimately considered crimes. GIAT makes it clear that the information provided by any person, even if sent from a personal email, is treated anonymously. That is, being considered citizen collaboration, at no time does it imply the appearance of the informant's name in any judicial file. All citizens who wish to report criminal behaviour, whether related to road safety or not, can do so through the Citizen Collaboration form available on the Civil Guard's website or via email: colabora@guardiacivil.org.

Authorities remind that speed is one of the main contributing factors in traffic accidents, exponentially increasing the risk of collision and the severity of injuries in the event of an accident. Boasting about these irresponsible behaviours is not only a lack of civility but can also incite other drivers to imitate dangerous behaviours.