The ACP said at the start of this week that national awareness-raising campaigns about road safety are urgently needed, as is an “effective inspection” of driving education.
“Road accidents have increased at a worrying rate this year, without the Government having realised it and without taking structural measures to combat this problem”, the ACP said in a statement published by newspaper Diário de Notícias.
The car club’s comments came after the State Secretary for Home Affairs, Jorge Gomes, said he had ordered “more awareness-raising and inspection actions” aimed at drivers, to stop the increase of accidents.
Speaking during a ceremony to mark the GNR National Traffic Unit’s eighth anniversary, State Secretary Gomes said he considered the rise in road deaths “worrying”.
In the ACP’s opinion, it elaborated in its statement, this reaction from the Government proves that “road safety is still not a national priority” and that, year after year, Portugal “remains above the European average in accidents and the State does nothing to reverse this situation.”
New figures out this week show that accidents on Portugal’s roads between January and June this year caused 237 deaths, which is 44 more than during the same timeframe of 2016, or an increase of 25 percent.
Deaths include fatalities declared dead at the scene or victims who die en-route to hospital.
The figures from the National Road Safety Authority, ANSR, also show that the number of serious injuries caused in the crashes have also gone up from last year, from 926 during the first six months of 2016, to 974 this year.
However, ANSR statistics indicate fewer accidents this year, being down from 61,585 during the first six months of 2016, to 60,904 during the same period of 2017.
During the last week of June alone (22 to 30 June), PSP police took note of two deaths and 12 serious injuries caused by crashes on Portugal’s roads.
That same week GNR police registered nine fatalities and 27 serious injuries.
ANSR’s statistics show that, district-wise, the greatest number of road fatalities occurred in Porto (35) and Setúbal (33), followed by Lisbon (24), Santarém (23), Faro (19) and Aveiro (15).
Portugal’s ACP also accused the government of failing to deliver on “the promised public awareness campaigns, financed by the Automobile Guarantee Fund”, which the club said “remain in the drawer, while these funds are allocated for totally different purposes.”
Therefore, it said, “once again, the urgency of carrying out permanent national campaigns, coupled with effective supervision of driving education” is paramount, and argued that “only with strong structural bases do behaviours change and teachings are rooted.”
The ACP believes the reduction in accidents only highlights “the severity of the crashes.”
Earlier this year, in April, the government approved a National Strategic Road Safety Plan named PENSE 2020, which includes 108 measures focused on reducing road deaths by half by 2020.
PENSE was approved in a cabinet meeting following a public consultation.
The plan’s targets include reducing the number of road traffic accident deaths by 56 percent and serious injuries by 22 percent by 2020, compared to figures in 2010.
PENSE 2020’s strategic objectives include “improving management of road safety,” making users, infrastructure and vehicles “safer” and “improving assistance to and support for victims.”
Following the public consultation, two of the more controversial measures were dropped, which required cyclists to wear helmets and introduced obligatory training for drivers aged over 65 renewing their licenses.
PENSE will introduce campaigns focused on motorcycle riders, raising awareness of risky behaviour, including failing to use protective gear and on car drivers, focused on their interactions with cyclists.