Three people – including two bikers and a decorated war hero – died last weekend on Algarve roads.
Two were killed outright on the infamous “road of death”, the EN125 – where vital road improvement work remains at a standstill.
The two bikers died on Saturday (October 25) after crashing into larger vehicles – one on the EN266 near Rasmalho, Portimão, and another on the EN125, near Lagoa.
On the Friday, an 83-year-old Navy veteran was hit by a car as he tried to cross the EN125 near Porches to buy oranges.
As GNR police investigate, national tabloid Correio da Manhã published detailed stories on the tragedies.
Biker Fernando Silva, a 30-year-old Barreiro resident, died on Saturday near Portimão. Truck driver José Lourenço told CM: “I was slowly driving from Portimão to Monchique when, just around a curve, I saw a motorbike driving towards me.” The two collided and the impact was such that Silva ended up in a nearby creek.
Two people witnessed the crash and tried to help but Silva died “five to 10 minutes later”.
The same night former president of the Loulé Motoclube José Maria Gregório, 40, died after his motorbike crashed into a car near Lagoa’s municipal pool complex. Gregório is reported to have died instantly.
On Friday, October 24, 83-year-old Maxfredo Campos was run over late afternoon by an 80-year-old who claims he could not see well because of the setting sun.
Says CM, the former “captain of sea and war” was crossing the EN125 road near Porches to buy oranges from a roadside stall.
Although he lived in Oeiras, he was reported to have been on holiday in Armação de Pêra.
Besides fighting in Portugal’s colonial war, Maxfredo Campos was also a driving force behind the creation of the Navy’s Escola de Fuzileiros (marines’ school).
“He was a great man who fought for Portugal and died in such a bizarre situation,” Campos’ son told CM.
The horrors came only a week after local mayors expressed concerns over the time it is taking to improve the accident-damned EN125 highway.
Although Estradas de Portugal (EP) guaranteed earlier this year that improvements would begin “very soon”, they remain at a standstill in Faro, Olhão and Vila Real de Santo António.
The non-improvement of the road has also been at the heart of the battle fought by the A22 Users’ Commission (CUVI), which has often labelled the EN125 “the road of death”.
