IC19 is no longer leader of the blacklist of Portuguese roads. Estrada da Circunvalação (EN12), in Porto, the Marginal (EN6) and the A5, which connect Lisbon to Cascais are the sad new names.
The novelty is in the way the National Road Safety Authority (ANSR) drew up the list of roads: through the concept of black spots. In road terms, a stretch of road of about 200 meters with at least five accidents with victims and a total sum of more than 20 accidents (including the number of deaths, serious and light injuries) is considered a black point.
Both the northern road and the Lisbon roads had five black spots, where there was a greater number of victims in 2014. The way in which the audit was carried out is generating some controversy, the black spots system does not convince all the entities involved.
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In the opinion of José Miguel Trigoso, president of the Portuguese Highway Prevention, in statements to Jornal de Notícias, the concept of black point is wrong: “In the original concept of 'black point' this is a place where, taking into account its characteristics, more accidents occur than expected.” For Trigoso, the fact that Portugal does not take the volume of traffic into account removes the effect of the audit. "The black spots end up being registered where there is a greater accumulation of traffic, and most of them are even light." Ending the specialist's thinking, the more traffic the greater the number of accidents that are registered and, therefore, the three roads that ended up at the top of the list are the ones with the highest daily traffic.
It should also be noted that in 2014 there were 52 black spots, 6 less than in 2013. However, the fact does not seem so favorable considering the 33 and 26 verified in 2012 and 2011, respectively. In terms of the number of victims, 2014 and 2013 are the same: 6 deaths in both, about 18 serious injuries and 459 light injuries in 2014 to shame the 503 in the previous year.
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