These provisional global data are included in the balance sheet for the year 2021 of accidents and road inspection presented by the National Road Safety Authority (ANSR).

“Compared to 2019, positive progress is visible in terms of all indicators, greater than the reduction seen in road fuel consumption (11% less) and consequently in road traffic: 19% less accidents with victims, 18% less of fatalities, 9% less serious injuries and 22% less minor injuries”, highlights the ANSR balance sheet.

Compared to 2020, the ANSR states that there was a 9% increase in the number of accidents with victims (2,367 more), a slight decrease of 0.3% in deaths (one less), a 14% increase in serious injuries (264 more) and also a 10% increase in minor injuries (3,106 more).

For ANSR, these results “are largely a consequence of the fact that 2020 was an atypical year, strongly conditioned by mobility restrictions, and consequently with a reduction in road traffic, which increased in 2021, in the same order of magnitude as the increase in road fuel consumption: 5% more”.

However, 2021 was also conditioned by the pandemic and in the first four months of the year there were restrictions on travel, especially on weekends, due to the state of emergency.

The data released also shows a strengthening of the downward trend seen in terms of fatalities and minor injuries and a stabilization of serious injuries since 2017.

The ANSR stated that the largest decreases in the number of fatalities were in the districts of Portalegre (67% less), Guarda (46% less) and Castelo Branco (36% less) and the largest increases were registered in Bragança (180% more), Braga (54% more) and Vila Real (50% more).

According to the ANSR, the months of July, August and September were the months with the highest number of fatalities with the highest number of serious injuries being recorded in August, September and October.