Strategy under public consultation brings together lower limits, reinforced inspection and new targets to reduce accident rates by 2030.
The National Road Safety Authority wants to reduce from 90 km/h to 70 km/h the maximum speed limit outside localities, on two-way roads and without a median.
The measure, advanced by , falls within the scope of the National Road Safety Strategy – , which entered public consultation this week.
The proposal is part of a package of measures with which ANSR intends to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on Portuguese roads by 50% by 2030 and reach zero road deaths by 2050.
According to ANSR, the implementation of the strategy could save around 2250 lives and represent a savings of up to 20 billion of euros by the end of the decade.
The document predicts that the drop to 70 km/h will apply to roads outside the localities with two-way traffic and without central divider. At the moment, only 27.8% of national roadsregional or municipal areas have a central separator, but ANSR wants to extend these conditions to 70% of the road network.
Already within the localitiesthe strategy proposes that maximum speed in areas where pedestrians and motor vehicles coexist, in an attempt to reinforce the protection of the most vulnerable users. According to SIC, accidents within localities are among those that most concern the authorities.
The strategy under public consultation does not include specific proposals on driving under the effect of alcohol or psychotropic substancesnor concrete measures on radars or fines.
Still, the point is that the Government wants to reinforce inspectionincrease fines for driving under the influence of alcohol, expand the criteria for obtaining a license and penalize repeat offenses. Also planned are 12 new radars average speed on ten roads, including inspection on the A5.
ANSR also proposes strengthen the training of medical teamspre-hospital emergency, rescue and extrication, to improve the response after accidents.
There is still no date for these changes to come into effect.
Until June, 201 people died on Portuguese roads and 979 were seriously injured, numbers higher than those recorded in the same period last year.
