Algarve road deaths – worst year for a decade

2018 is set to be the worst year for safety on the Algarve’s roads for a decade with 38 deaths so far recorded this year.

The figures from the Road Safety Authority show that, although the safety record has improved over past decades, there have been 1,163 road traffic accident deaths since the beginning of the millennium.

The last major road accident was on November 30, when a truck overturned and crushed to death the two elderly occupants of a car. The death of these two Monchique residents, António Serrão Nunes, 75, and Maria Jesus Serrão, 73, ended a month in which a dozen people died in road traffic accidents.

The week before the Monchique couple died, two men and one woman were killed in accidents in Aljezur and Tavira.

Another serious accident occurred on 17 November, when two men died and another was injured when a rubbish collection vehicle left the EN122 in Castro Marim.

The previous day, a collision on the the EN267 in Monchique, involving a motorcycle and a goods vehicle, caused the death of a 28-year-old motorcyclist. Days before, a collision between three vehicles on the EN125 in Lagoa, killed a young man and wounded nine people.

Equally serious was the accident that resulted in the death of a man, also on the EN125 near Portimão hospital. His vehicle was burnt out after a collision with a good vehicle.

On December 11, the anti-tolls group, CUVI, demonstrated against the imposition of motorway tolls that, they claim, has forced many drivers onto the EN125, making it crowded and hazardous, leading to the high number of deaths.

The Via do Infante User Commission called the tolls a “gross error” and again called for their abolition.

CUVI spokesman, the local Left Bloc MP, João Vasconcelos, said that that the tolls have increased the number of road accidents in the Algarve and that, as of 30 November this year, there were 9,890 accidents, in which 37 people died, ten more than last year.

“We are going to arrive at the end of the year with more than 10,000 accidents in the Algarve, for the third year running,” mainly on the EN125, which “is not a credible alternative to the motorway.”

According to CUVI, the motorway concession holder receives an income of €70 million a year: €40 million from the State and €30 million from tolls, yet the maintenance and repair bill for the Via do Infante is picked up by the taxpayer.

The government inherited the motorway toll deal and has refused to divulge its contents as to do so would break the terms of the agreement – not even MPs are allowed to review the contract so are unable to work out the cost of compensating the concession holder which does little more than sit there and watch the cash come rolling in.