The Automobile Club of Portugal (ACP) has proposed reducing the maximum alcohol limit allowed on roads to 0.2 grams per litre, in line with a similar initiative in Spain. But the proposal appears to have failed to find significant support.
Alcohol limit reduction to 0.2 under debate
According to Carlos Barbosa, president of the club, the proposal did not find the necessary support, as there are those who argue that Portugal, being a wine producing country, should not impose such severe restrictions on alcohol consumption. Barbosa sustains a different view:
People who want to drink don't drive and people who want to drive don't drink.
A study by Portuguese Road Safety and Prevention (PRP), mentioned by Público last June, revealed that 25% of all deaths on European roads are related to alcohol consumption.
According to data from the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, 75% of autopsied drivers had a blood alcohol level above 1.2 g/l, considered a crime.
Carlos Barbosa argued in favor of reducing the limit:
I am 100% in favor of reducing the alcohol tax, because unfortunately, in Portugal, there are many deaths and disasters involving people with very high alcohol levels.
He explained, in an interview, highlighting that it has already been proven "that a rate of 0.5 grams per liter of blood already causes some frivolity on the road, therefore reducing it to 0.2 grams per liter, as they are considering in Spain, would be an excellent measure".
Carlos Barbosa believes that penalties should be stricter
The ACP president also criticized the lightness of penalties in Portugal for drinking and driving, suggesting that they should be more severe.
Driving licenses should be revoked for a much longer period of time than is currently the case.
I argue that if a person were caught driving over the maximum limit, they should be denied a driving licence for, for example, three or four years. In other words, for a period of time that would have a real impact. And it doesn't mean going to road safety sessions three or four times, because that's not enough: it means going to these sessions every weekend for a year, because from then on people would remember that they can't drink again if they're going to drive.
He stated.
So why aren't these measures moving forward?
There is a great excuse in Portugal, which is the argument that we are a wine-producing country, and that we could not and should not have measures of this nature. But drivers must understand that they cannot drive on the road with alcohol. Not only do they kill themselves, they also kill others.
The ACP leader pointed out.
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Source: pplware.sapo.pt
