The government has said it will reflect on what intervention is necessary with regard to the three main issues, namely people being run over, drink-driving, and accidents involving motorbikes.
International Affairs Minister, Eduardo Cabrita made the announcement on 19 December 2017, as he unveiled a new campaign for this Christmas and New Year by the National Road Safety Authority (ANSR).
“Last year we had a quarter of the fatalities we had 20 years ago, but we cannot rest on our laurels. We want this positive evolution to consolidate and, in 2018, with public institutions, local authorities, security forces and services, and agents within the sector, we will take stock of how to improve the points of risk already identified: road accidents on urban roads, two-wheeled vehicles and alcohol consumption”, Eduardo Cabrita elaborated.
According to the minister, Portugal has “absolutely unacceptable numbers regarding people being knocked down in urban areas”, and it is necessary to “identify the causes and circumstances and act upon them”.
“Portugal is one of the safest countries in the world. We want it to be the case with road safety too”, he said.
According to Mr. Cabrita, the Government wants to “launch a new and more ambitious way of implementing the national road safety plan”.
ANSR president Jorge Jacob highlighted the increase in motorcycle accidents and the number of deaths in-situ.
“We know that motorcycle crashes and the resulting casualties have increased a lot, more than doubled, but we have to have more elements to refine that analysis”, Jacob reflected, adding that motorcycle sales have increased, the number of motorbikes circulating on roads too, and that this may be one of the possible justifications.
‘Be present for the Celebrations’ is the theme of the new road safety campaign aimed at raising awareness about two key issues on the road over the holidays: tiredness and alcohol consumption.
Figures from the ANSR, which gathers data from the PSP and the GNR police forces, show that between January 1 and December 15, 2017, there were 124,388 road accidents, 2,863 more than in the same period of 2016, causing 483 deaths, 61 more than the year before.
The districts with the most fatalities are Porto (65), followed by Setúbal (54), Lisbon (49) and Santarém (42), according to the ANSR.
Severe injuries also increased slightly this year, from January to December.