In a posting on the Presidency of the Republic website, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa today warned of "a lamentable reversal of the trend of decreasing road accidents and fatalities since 2010."
The Secretary of State for Civil Protection, José Artur Neves, said that road accidents in Portugal have a negative impact of €2.3 billion, equivalent to 1.2% of the country's GDP.
Today is the World Day of Victims of the Road 2018, and despite the progress that has been made, the death toll remains high, “three decades behind the countries of northern Europe that have adapted urban spaces and made them safer," said Neves.
"The government has road safety as one of its essential pillars for a society that values well-being. It is necessary to have a collective mobilisation of Portuguese society against the scourge of road accidents. The challenge is gigantic," concluded the Secretary of State.
The vice president of the National Highway Safety Authority, Fernando Moutinho, commented that 80 to 95% of road accidents are caused "by the behaviour of the driver."
The President of the Republic made an appeal to the Portuguese driving public to combat road accidents in the country and called for authorities to emphasise, "prevention, education and signaling."
"Road fatalities have a tragic and immense effect on all those who live with the painful, often permanent, memories caused by the traumatic loss of someone close to them. It is a serious problem on a global scale, but also on a national scale," read the President’s online missive.
