The anti-toll protestors are revisiting the Guadiana Bridge on December 8th to meet up with their equally vociferous Spanish counterparts.
The protest next Tuesday at 10 am is to mark four years of tolls on the Algarve’s Via do Infante motorway and has been organised by CUVI, the anti-tolls group that has local Left Bloc MP João Vasconcelos as its figurehead.
The Left Bloc has insisted on a vote in parliament which now is scheduled for next week. This will show the public and left wing parties which way the new Socialist Prime Minister will swing on the tolls issue. If he senses the wind of change could turn into an icy blast if he reads the weather wrong, Costa may finally act to abolish the tolls and allow the Algarve to breath again.
The Users Committee of the Via do Infante (CUVI) say that its members are delighted at the latest position statement from Lagos council which last week voted against the continuation of tolls on the region’s motorway, and of course the important Left Bloc parliamentary group which is putting the abolition motion to the vote in the National Assembly.
CUVI talk of "a new cycle of hope in the Algarve and nationwide" with the new Socialist Party government now in power with the backing of the Left Bloc and other left wing parties.
"In the past 11 months, (January 1 and November 21, 2015) there have been 8,646 road accidents in the Algarve with 33 fatalities and 153 serious injuries.
This is up by 1,054 accidents, 8 deaths and 30 serious injuries than in the same period last year, with 14 more dead than in 2013.
The Algarve is likely to reach the end of the year with about 10,000 registered traffic accidents, an average of 27 accidents per day," many of which would not have happened if people were able freely to use the Via do Infante which largely was built with European Community funds.
CUVI mainstay Michael Ferrada has extended a special invitation to all algarvedailynews readers to come along at 10:00am on December 8th to show support to the Algarve community which has been deeply affected by the imposition of tolls on the Via do Infante.
Comments
It is total lunacy to be measuring the success of a road by the number of fatalities - totally ignoring that things like chicanes, speed cameras and speed bumps can be built into the bad spots.
And get a grip on the drivers. What is the difficulty with 'encouraging' everyone to have dashcams installed. In Russia it is apparently a must have to avoid irresponsible insurance claims against you. How is it we still keep hearing of rogue driving schools and testers ? Government inspectors should be making surprise visits to the schools and sitting in on the tests.
As always the problem is the people themselves! Dashcams and this last suggestion are 'dishonourable' - reporting someone or arriving at a driving school without warning. Likewise the next suggestion.
Such as having hot lines in bars to report drunks leaving them. But then some bars would get a reputation for being faddy. Or idiots would make fake reports about non-drunks. So the drunks would go to the other bars that were more easy going.
And that one third of Portuguese having treatment for serious depression are on an 'at risk' list if known to be regularly driving. Or if doing so for a living. A police stop then estimating not just depth of tyre tread but what state the driver is in. Cheerful; positive and forward looking or 'out of it'? (But then is the cop also 'out of it'?)
This is up by 1,054 accidents, 8 deaths and 30 serious injuries than in the same period last year, with 14 more dead than in 2013.
The Algarve is likely to reach the end of the year with about 10,000 registered traffic accidents, an average of 27 accidents per day," many of which would not have happened if people were able freely to use the Via do Infante which largely was built with European Community funds.
CUVI mainstay Michael Ferrada has extended a special invitation to all algarvedailynews readers to come along at 10:00am on December 8th to show support to the Algarve community which has been deeply affected by the imposition of tolls on the Via do Infante.