Guilherme Costa Oliveira / CM Porto
Numbers create tightening control over vehicles that break the law. There are new technologies for monitoring, controlling and managing traffic.
The Chamber of Porto and the Municipal Police will reinforce inspection and sanction measures for abusive car parking and speedingstarting today, Monday (20).
The information was passed on this Thursday (16), regarding the presentation of the “Participate in Road Safety” campaign to the media, at the City Council.
The numbers explain the need to tighten control of vehicles that break the law. The inspection actions carried out by the Porto Municipal Police in 2024 resulted in close to 40 thousand infraction notices and almost 17 thousand vehicle removalswith approximately one fifth of these were parked illegally in places reserved for people with disabilities.
The data was presented, in a press conference, by the Commander of Porto Municipal Police, Antônio Leitão da Silvaand served as a motto for the presentation of a set of measures with which the Porto City Council and the Municipal Police promise to reinforce supervision, especially in the fields of abusive parking and the speeding.
To journalists, Rui Moreira, president of the municipality, highlighted the implementation of traffic monitoring, control and management technologieswhich is reflected in the acquisition of fixed radars – which can be found daily, for example, in General Humberto Delgado Square by you Avenida dos Aliados – and mobile – control locations vary, based on data on traffic accidents provided by the PSP – for monitoring speeding. In the testing phase of mobile radars a passage at 180 km/hour was recorded within the city of Porto.
Rui Moreira also highlighted the use of a pioneering technology in the country which consists of a automatic surveillance carried out by a device made up of a tablet and cameraswhich can read license plates. While patrolling the city, officers can quickly and easily finefor example, second row vehicles. This measure increases impartiality and equality in the application of fines, maintains the Municipal Police.
Among the measures announced is also the admission of 31 new agentswhich represents the largest recruitment in the last two decades for the special inspection career. In total, the municipal body will have a reinforcement of 100 agents. This increase in human resources is accompanied by the delivery of 24 new vehicleswhich will allow for an increase in the number of police officers on the ground. Rui Moreira states that these decisions do not represent an expense, but rather “an investment in urban well-being”.
The mayor of Porto highlighted the “great impact” that infractions and accidents on public roads have on the lives of citizens. Added to this justification, there are consequences of Metro do Porto’s multiple interventionswhich have caused several changes in the morphology and circulation of the city’s roads and cause problems in two ways: on the one hand, they cause disturbances in road traffic of the city and, on the other, they mean that public transport that could alleviate the volume of cars in Porto is not yet in operation.
Rui Moreira also highlighted that, in recent years, measures have been put into practice that contribute to improving pedestrian circulation conditionssuch as the widening of sidewalkso increase in the number of traffic lights and the inclusion of displays with the number of seconds they have to cross, lowering the walkway ramps (often used for parking), the construction of escalators in the Monte dos Judeus area and the recently opened competition for the construction of an elevator which will connect Rua da Restauração to the Palácio de Cristal Gardens. All this, supported by the thesis that “the city is to be explored on foot”.
The mayor also highlighted the effort that the Municipal Police will make in control of vehicles parked improperly on roads reserved for public transport and stops. This is one of the examples of articulation of the work of this body with other entities, such as the STCP. The Government was left with the challenge of reviewing the sanctioning framework for abusive parking.
“Whoever today does not validate a pass on the subway, or exceeds the validation area, pays R$120, but whoever parks a car on the sidewalk, putting pedestrian circulation and safety at risk, pays only R$30”, exemplified. Rui Moreira argues that the value of fines should be decided by municipalities.
