“Radars actually contribute to reducing speed. In these locations, the number of accidents with victims was reduced by 36% and fatalities decreased by 74%. There is a clear correlation between the existence of speed cameras, the decrease in speed and the accident rate. What we hope is that these radars will also contribute to saving the lives of people who travel on our roads”, says the president of National Road Safety Authority (ANSR), Rui Ribeiro.
The 12 average speed radars will monitor the A1 (Santarém and Mealhada), A3 (Braga and Trofa), A25 (Águeda) and A42 (Paços de Ferreira) motorways, on the complementary routes IC2 (Loures and Rio Maior) and IC19 (Sintra ) and on the national roads EN10 (Montijo and Vila Franca de Xira), EN109 (Figueira da Foz) and EN211 (Marco de Canaveses).
The remaining 25 speed cameras are designed to measure instantaneous speed and their activity will focus on national roads.
Among the locations controlled as of today are: A1 (two in Vila Nova de Gaia), A2 (Albufeira), A44 (Vila Nova de Gaia), A7 (two in Guimarães), EN101 (Guimarães), EN103 (Barcelos), EN105 (Santo Tirso), EN109 (Figueira da Foz), EN119 (Benavente), EN125 (Faro), EN14 (Maia), EN18 (Belmonte), EN206 (Fafe), EN234 (Nelas), EN251 (Coruche), EN252 ( two radars in Palmela), EN260 (Beja), EN5 (Montijo), IC17 (Loures), IC2 (Coimbra and Águeda) and IP7 (Lisbon).
Speaking to Lusa, the ANSR leader assures that “everything is ready” for the 37 radars to come into operation, to which 25 more will be added soon, totalling 62.
These new radars are added to the 61 already existing and represent a global investment of 6.2 million euros, with the institution's investment being 5.8 million euros. However, ANSR's intention is not to stop there.
“The number of speed cameras in Portugal is still small compared to the norm in Europe and especially in countries where accident rates are, for us, a reference, as is the case in Sweden. We have very few radars per million inhabitants, it is an insufficient number compared to what is normal in European countries”, he says, continuing: “I don’t know when, but, probably, in the near future we will have a new ‘wave’ of radars”.
More money for their Christmas party. Certain roads should become smart motorways with speeds up to 160kph if roads are quiet and weather is good.
By Bradley Hardaker from Lisbon on 02 Sep 2023, 12:21
You are right Bradley - fines fines fines instead of teaching the portuguese how to drive and respect the law. But hey ho! the socialists prefer easy money instead of educating their population. Very African and non European kind of people.
By S from Other on 02 Sep 2023, 15:32
Speed in itself is not dangerous, but the terrible habits of not indicating and talking on the phone whilst hurtling along add to a very poor mix. Speeding is classed as one of the fatal five in Australia, where roads are generally better and even more sparsely used when you get out of the cities. They still manage to kill themselves though. So, yes, more speed cameras would be a good idea.
By Ian from Beiras on 03 Sep 2023, 08:52
They need anti-tailgating enforcement. It's one thing to go fast, it's another thing to go fast without maintaining safe distance. It should really be a"lose your license" offense.
By AG from Lisbon on 04 Sep 2023, 15:31
"wow, they like to tailgate here" first thing my Canadian friend notices. Second was "I thought us Canadians didn't like to signal when turning, I was wrong".
By Valter from Lisbon on 05 Sep 2023, 10:34