GNR set up check points at popular New Year venues

The GNR’s ‘Ano Novo Seguro’ operation starts today until January 4th as the police patrol roads and set up roadside inspection points - specifically on the routes to and from popular sites hosting New Year’s Eve festivities - ‘in order to prevent road accidents.’

According to the GNR website, throughout the operation there will be a total of 6,572 officers out and about to keep us safe.

Particular attention will be paid to those who have been drinking and are caught in charge of a vehicle, those who are stoned, have been speeding etc - in fact anything that is illegal.

On December 31st, 2013 and January 1st, 2014 the police caught 433 technically drunk drivers (126 of them were 'as newts') 529 speeding drivers and 54 drivers not wearing a seat belt.

The GNR rightly point out that "driving under the influence of alcohol, speeding and failure to use seat belts on all seats of the car are three of the main causes of deaths and injuries on Portugal’s roads."

Comments  

-3 #4 John M Haigh 2015-01-01 20:51

Stoned, As newts..lol

-2 #3 chez 2015-01-01 11:54

Will someone please buy my house, the prospect of remaining in Portugal for another year is really depressing

+1 #2 Peter Booker 2015-01-01 09:55

The GNR makes the same old mistake about speed. Speed is not of itself dangerous. It is the manner of stopping which is potentially lethal.

I agree with Enid about Civil Protection. With their Lisbon offices, organograms and flash jeeps, they are the last people who should be in charge of fire fighting. The colossal outbreak in the Eastern Algarve in 2012 merely showed that the bombeiros were inhibited from an effective response to the developing tragedy by the useless command structure in Lisbon. And I suspect that nothing has changed.

-1 #1 Enid 2014-12-31 19:13

The Troika was understandably keen to amalgamate the state security and civil protection apparatus as it serves no useful function and just wastes money keeping its various arms separate.

Unless you are a habitual anti-social type - as apparently most elite Portuguese are !

And what on earth is the Civil Protection people - if not a useless expense ? Why are they not part of a unified Police?

Remember, just one example, the serious fires two years ago in the Algarve where a squabble between the fire brigade who put fires out - and Proteçao Civil who look after the elite's interests, meant hundreds of locals and small holders had their homes and livelihoods destroyed.

The Bombeiros just wanting to effectively put out the fire without being told "Focus your people on Don xxxx's estate. He is important. Forget that lot - they are losers - so must lose"

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