According to the National Authority for Road Safety, the number of accidents rose to just over 20,000 since the beginning of the year.


Severely injured people also rose up to 28 in February, with 283 suffering serious injuries, 36 more than the same period of 2018.


These latest figures once again confirm the trend that has seen fatalities increase on Portuguese roads in the past three years.


The Algarve is where road deaths have risen the most, climbing by almost 30 percent in the year ending on 28 February.


In related news, data from the Institute of Mobility and Transport has shown a drop in the number of woman with drivers’ licences in Portugal.


According to figures published earlier in the week, the number of women with a driving license in Portugal fell by almost 85,000 from 2016 to 2017.


Conversely, there was an increase in the number of men with a licence.


This, experts say, is a reflection of the dwindling birth rate, with the number of older men holding driving licences far outweighing the number held by women in the same age brackets.