A three car pile-up outside the Giga Garden Centre near Algarve Shopping in Guia on Tuesday afternoon closed the road while police and emergency services rushed to the scene.
All drivers and passengers were wearing seatbelts, and airbags helped to cushion the impact that left the vehicles severely damaged or write-offs.
Motorists who witnessed the crash at the notoriously dangerous turning off the EN 125 into the busy garden centre called 119 and the GNR and the INEM ambulance service were attending to those affected within 15 minutes.
The afternoon traffic was as heavy as ever on this road that is being used as an alternative to the Via do Infante motorway by tens of thousands of drivers each week. 
This volume of traffic of course adds to the risk of such accidents where fast moving traffic is dealing with more domestic driver behaviour as cars turn in and out of properties and rural lanes. Many are forced to come to a complete halt, blocking following drivers as a left hand turn is attempted in the face of endless oncoming traffic.
