FECTRANS, Portugal’s federation of transport and communications unions has reacted with outrage today following remarks by minister of state for the presidency, António Leitão Amaro, regarding railway accidents and alcohol levels among train drivers.
Said the federation in a statement: “Fectrans repudiates the statements made by the government, through the minister of the presidency, who, without argument, tried to convey the idea that rail accidents must be combated by increasing penalties for “drivers who drive under the influence of alcohol”.
FECTRANS also said that it has requested a meeting with the prime minister, Luís Montenegro, so that the government can make public the data and grounds for Leitão Amaro’s remarks. What he actually told reporters, following the latest meeting of the Council of Ministers, was: “It is not widely known, but Portugal has the second worst performance in terms of the number of accidents that occur per kilometer of railroad” and that it has “a performance around seven times worse than the first half of European countries”.
With this in mind, he said the government has approved a bill that strengthens “the administrative offence measures for train drivers, creating a ban on driving under the influence of alcohol”, adding, as the final kicker: “Although Portugal is in one of the worst situations in terms of accidents, it has the lightest and lowest administrative offences in Europe.”
