GNR police are monitoring national roads normally used by holidaymakers driving to and out of the Algarve and which are more prone to cases of speeding, in order to reduce the number of accidents and road deaths during the busy August month. Just last weekend nine people died on the IC1 road in Ourique (see story above) in car crashes caused by excessive speeding and careless driving.
‘Speed Operation’, which is part of the European Traffic Police Network’s efforts to reduce road accidents and deaths, will be active until Sunday, August 25, and is being carried out by 1,700 officers in a total of 732 road safety operations.
Last year, the GNR registered 189,130 cases of speeding. In the first six months of this year, more than half of that number has already been reached: 98,280. The GNR stressed that speeding is still the main cause of serious accidents and road deaths in the country.
Meanwhile, in a GNR road operation named ‘Moto’ conducted last weekend, which was aimed specifically at motorcyclists, 23 individuals were arrested for drunk driving or failing to produce a driver’s licence in a total of 1,015 road inspections across Portugal. Forty-four motorcyclists were fined for speeding.
