Portugal's National Road Safety Authority has announced the national road death figure for 2014 with a comment that 'you would have to go back to 1950, when there were about 100,000 vehicles on the road, to match a figure of under 500 fatalities.'
With 7 million vehicles now registered in Portugal there were only 480 fatalities in 2014, a decrease of 7.3% compared to 2013.
Provisional data shows a rise in accidents but a drop in fatalities. There were 117,231 reported road accidents, some 1,196 more than in 2013.
The data from the PSP and GNR policing services collated by the National Road Safety Authority shows that 480 people died on the roads in 2014, some 38 fewer than in 2013.
In its new year statement, the National Road Safety Authority pointed out that "it is necessary to go back to 1950 to find less than 500 fatalities," adding that at that time, "there were about 100,000 cars and trucks in circulation, while in 2013 auto insurance figures show around 7,000,000 vehicles.’
