The Algarve’s EN125 ‘road of death’ is to have three active speed cameras “by the end of the first quarter of 2017.”
This is but one of the measures to reduce the accident rate on the country’s most dangerous road, according to the Secretary of State for Internal Affairs, Jorge Gomes.
The speed camera installation was announced yesterday by Gomes at the headquarters of mayors’ group AMAL as he signed a protocol between the national road safety organsation and the Algarve councils for the creation of a Regional Plan for Road Safety.
For the Secretary of State, the EN125 is "extremely worrying. The road is known all over the country as the most dangerous we have."
The Algarve’s alternative to the tolled motorway will be monitored by three of the 50 radars to be installed across the country by March 2017.
"We will put three fixed speed cameras in boxes so people won’t know if there are cameras in side or not. Some say that because the cameras are fixed, everyone knows where they are and they will slow down. But that's what we want people to do, to drive more slowly. If they slow down every five or ten kilometers, we will reach our goal. People will have to slow down to avoid being caught speeding," explained Gomes to a no doubt riveted press.
The Secretary of State admitted that the financial opside of this safety measure for the Algarve will be largely wasted as most of the drivers passing the radar are in foreign plated cars, so collecting the fine "will be difficult."
