Major changes are occurring in the Portuguese road transport system; in recent years car ownership and vehicle travel mileage have been experiencing huge growths, and both the main road networks of metropolitan areas and the national interurban road network are being subject to a global renewal process. At the same time Portugal remains one of the European countries with a higher rate of road accidents, reflecting among other causes the slow adaptation of the driver population to this new and still evolving situation. Within this context the present importance of applied research on traffic and road safety becomes apparent. This paper starts with an overview on recent trends in the Portuguese traffic system's parameters and in traffic system's parameters and in other related socio-economic variables for years 1985-1990. Special attention is given to the results of a more detailed analysis of interurban road data. (A)
Abstract