From www.the-news.net - Portugal

26 February 2000 - Misty Monday becomes bloody

Monday morning greeted the worst road accident ever recorded in Portuguese motoring history. A tail-back of more than ten kilometres formed within minutes of the pile-up on the A1 motorway near Santarém. In between the disfigured vehicles, sirens wailed and lights flashed as ambulances and traffic police navigated their way past shocked occupants of vehicles to the assist the injured and the count the dead. Portugal's title as undisputed champions of road carnage remains unrivalled.

"If you want to see me alive again, come quickly". The final words of an elderly gentleman whose dying wish was to borrow the cellphone of a motorist to inform his wife that death had come knocking at his door. She never did see him alive again as he breathed his final breath seconds later. This was but one of the numerous said stories told by eye-witnesses who escaped the wrath of the Monday motorway massacre.

A minor accident on the A1 north-south motorway, somehow resulted in a pile-up involving no less than 170 vehicles. The initial accident took place at 07h30 on a foggy Monday morning. Low visibility was given the blame by the GNR. But fatalities on Portuguese roads are usually the result of excessive speeds, and this accident was no exception.

Once the first two vehicles had collided, speeding cars behind them, "in visibility of about ten metres", had little or no chance of avoiding an inevitable bumper-bashing. One motorist said he heard a radio report about the accident ahead, but despite having heeded to the warning and slowed down considerably, the back-half of his car was still transformed to take the appearance of wrinkled paper.

Cars travelling in the opposite direction saw their human nature and curiosity overwhelm them. Mayhem broke loose again as they tried to catch a glimpse of the strife. Given the horrendous weather conditions, both sides of the motorway were brought to a complete halt as the screeching of wheels and bashing of metal was repeated across the motorway's dividing barrier.

Four deaths and 125 injuries, 21 of whom were reported as being serious, tells the sorry tale of the zero tolerance-zero safety demeanour expressed daily on roads throughout the country.

The northern motorway was cordoned off between kilometres 65 and 94, and was only reopened seven hours later after it had been washed down. Even once the scattered debris had been removed from the motorway and the mopping up operation complete, blood stains on the tarmac painted the picture of the horror which had occurred earlier that morning.

The first injury victim admitted to the Abrantes hospital (in the vicinity of Santarém) was given a lift by a motorist that had been travelling in the opposite direction at the time of the accident, a source at the hospital revealed on Tuesday.

While Monday was the second bloodiest day of the year (only surpassed by January 1), with ten deaths, the next day was most peaceful day of the year. Tuesday, along with January 27 are the only days so far this year on which no road deaths were reported with the GNR Traffic Department.

An hour before going to press, 13,512 accidents and 165 deaths had been recorded on Portuguese roads [in the year 2000].