In the past year, 28 people have died in accidents on the Algarve’s roads.
The death rate of more than two a month in the year from 22 April 2014 represents an increase of almost 50% over the year before when 19 people lost their lives on the region’s roads.
The latest death was on the EN125 in Guia near Algarve Shopping in which 48-year-old Miguel Drago, a well respected guitarist, died and two others were seriously injured including his wife.
According to data from the National Road Safety Authority, last year there were fewer serious injuries on the Algarve’s roads than in the previous year in the region: 139 compared to 150.
Worryingly, the number of accidents has been increasing since 2013 and according to the Users Committee of the Via do Infante (CUVI) these numbers are all a direct result of the introduction of tolls on the A22, which has turned the EN125 back into the ‘road of death.’
Motorways are safer and the shift in traffic from the Via do Infante to the EN125 has increased the chance of having an accident.
Statistically, the increased number of journey miles travelled on the ‘alternative’ EN125 rather than on the motorway will mean a higher number of deaths, whether the road is particularly dangerous or not.
