"We have to regret the 560 fatalities since the beginning of the year until now", said Jorge Jacob in an operational briefing of the balance sheet of the Christmas operation and presentation of the New Year operation, recalling that the number of fatalities is higher than that recorded in 2019, the year in which 515 fatalities were recorded on Portuguese roads.

Jorge Jacob also highlighted that in Portugal, "remarkable progress" has been made in terms of road safety, with the number of fatalities having decreased "81%" in the last 25 years".

"However, in the last 10 years, 6,089 people have died on Portuguese roads. We had another 315,000 accidents", he said, adding, however, that "it is possible to reach zero victims".

In the Christmas operation, which took place between 19 and 26 December, 12 fatalities were recorded on Portuguese roads, one more victim than last year and 109 fewer injured.

The 12 fatalities, aged between 24 and 86, resulted from three accidents in the district of Porto, two in Aveiro, two in Faro, two in Setúbal, and in Beja, Coimbra and Santarém.

In the remaining districts of the country and in the autonomous regions of the Azores and Madeira, "the goal of zero deaths on Portuguese roads was achieved", said Jorge Jacob.

In the same period, there were 3,194 accidents, 155 more than in 2021, which resulted in 795 injuries. Of the total injured, 44 were serious (five more than in 2021) and 751 were light (114 less than in 2021).

During the operation, around three million vehicles were inspected by the GNR and PSP, with 25.7 thousand infractions recorded.

Operation New Year starts today and runs until January 2, 2023.


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