66 drivers arrested for drink driving as Lisbon Festivities end

Lisbon’s ‘Santos Populares’ (popular saints) festivities ended last night/ in the early hours of this morning with GNR police arresting 66 motorists for drink driving  – and detecting dozens more ‘alcohol-related offences’.

During a major road safety operation carried out by the police force across the Lisbon Metropolitan Area 164 officers were sighted at key access routes to the capital, including the Vasco da Gama Bridge in Alcochete, the A1 in Alverca, the A2 in Seixal, the A5 in Oeiras, the A8 in Loures and the IC20 in Almada.

The special enforcement operation took place between 4am and 8am, and saw almost 3,000 drivers pulled over and questioned. Of this number, 264 were found to be driving under the influence of alcohol, with 66 arrested after recording blood alcohol levels of 1.2 grams per litre or higher, the threshold at which drink driving becomes a criminal offence in Portugal.

A further seven people were arrested for driving without a valid licence, while five others were detained for separate criminal offences.

Said the GNR in a statement: “During the four hours of enforcement, 2,989 drivers were checked and 264 alcohol-related offences were detected, of which 66 drivers were arrested for having a blood alcohol level equal to or above 1.2 g/l, constituting the crime of driving while intoxicated,” the GNR said in a statement.

The force added that all drivers found to be intoxicated were immediately prevented from continuing their journeys for a minimum period of 12 hours – removing what it described as “an immediate risk to road safety and other road users”.

Among those detained was a 36-year-old foreign national who was the subject of a European Arrest Warrant and is wanted to serve a prison sentence for drug trafficking offences.

Captain Celso Pereira, communications and public relations officer for the National Traffic Unit, told Diário de Notícias that similar enforcement operations were carried out on previous nights during the Santo António celebrations, when thousands of revellers take to Lisbon’s streets. However, data from those operations has not yet been released.

The annual Santo António festivities, one of Lisbon’s largest public celebrations, attract large crowds to street parties, concerts and traditional neighbourhood events throughout the city, prompting increased police and traffic enforcement measures.

Source: Diário de Notícias

Natasha Donn

Journalist for the Portugal Resident.