GNR Logs 4,752 Criminal Drunk-Driving Cases and 127 Road Deaths in the First 16 Weeks of 2026 — Speeding Stays the Single Biggest Violation at 30,336 Tickets

The Guarda Nacional Republicana published its 1 January–22 April 2026 enforcement bulletin on Friday, and the headline numbers are sobering. In the first sixteen weeks of the year, the rural-and-highway police force registered 8,064 road crimes, of which 4,752 were for driving with a blood-alcohol level at or above 1.2 g/L — Portugal's criminal threshold — and 2,373 were for driving without a valid licence. Over the same period the GNR responded to 30,026 traffic accidents that left 127 people dead, 492 with serious injuries, and 7,067 with minor injuries.

The criminal-threshold drunk-driving figure deserves emphasis. Under the Portuguese Código da Estrada and Código Penal, anything between 0.5 and 1.2 g/L is an administrative offence (contraordenação muito grave) carrying a fine and a temporary driving ban. 1.2 g/L and above is the line at which the conduct becomes a crime under Article 292 of the Código Penal — punishable with up to one year in prison or a fine of up to 120 day-fines, plus a mandatory accessory driving ban of three months to three years. The 4,752 number is therefore not a count of breathalyser tests above the legal limit; it is a count of criminal cases opened against drivers who blew well above it.

The Enforcement Numbers

The GNR fiscalised 751,066 drivers in those sixteen weeks — roughly 6,700 per day — and issued 165,251 traffic violations ( contraordenações rodoviárias) in addition to the criminal cases above. The breakdown:

• 30,336 for excess speed
• 23,484 for missing or lapsed periodic technical inspection (the IPO at an ITV centre)
• 6,810 for missing compulsory motor-vehicle insurance
• 5,190 for using a handheld mobile phone while driving
• 4,535 for not wearing a seatbelt or child restraint
• 1,927 for vehicle overload (commercial)

Speeding sits at the top of every quarterly bulletin the GNR has published in living memory; the seatbelt and mobile-phone numbers continue to climb. The Guarda's communiqué names speeding, alcohol and handheld phones as the three behavioural risk factors most strongly associated with the deaths and serious injuries it is registering.

The ANSR Context

The GNR figures cover the territory the Guarda polices — interurban roads, motorways outside city centres, and most of rural Portugal. They do not include the urban roads under the Polícia de Segurança Pública (PSP). For the national picture, the Autoridade Nacional de Segurança Rodoviária (ANSR) published the all-services year-to-date snapshot on 15 April: 43,635 accidents, 145 dead, 633 serious injuries, and 10,753 minor injuries. Set against the same fourteen-week window of 2025, that is 5,000 more accidents, 42 more deaths, 8 more serious injuries, and 421 fewer minor injuries. The death curve is moving in the wrong direction.

What This Means for Foreign Drivers

Portugal's enforcement regime applies in full to foreign-licensed and foreign-resident drivers, and most of the figures above arise from roadside checkpoints — the operações stop that GNR units deploy at weekends, around public holidays, and at known black spots. A few practical points for residents who hold a foreign or recently-converted Portuguese licence:

• The 0.5 g/L general limit is strict. One large glass of wine over a meal can put a smaller adult above it. New drivers (under three years), professional drivers, and drivers of vehicles for hire (taxi, TVDE, ambulance, school transport) are subject to a tighter 0.2 g/L limit.
• The 1.2 g/L criminal threshold is enforced. Court records published weekly in the Diário da República show driving bans, suspended sentences and the occasional custodial term. Foreign residents lose the right to drive in Portugal for the duration of any ban — and an EU mutual-recognition framework means a Portuguese ban can be enforced in your home country.
• The IPO is now actively enforced. 23,484 inspection-related fines in sixteen weeks is not a rounding error. Portuguese plates more than four years old need a passing IPO sticker visible on the windscreen; checks are routine at every roadside stop.
• Insurance documentation is checked digitally. The GNR has tablet access to ASF's insurance register; if your seguro automóvel has lapsed, the system flags it within seconds. The fine is severe, the vehicle can be removed, and driving without the mandatory civil-liability cover is itself a contraordenação grave.
• Handheld phone use is the fastest-growing offence. 5,190 fines in four months reflects targeted GNR enforcement; a Bluetooth or hands-free mount is the only legal way to take a call while driving.

The GNR's note closes with the standard reminder: respect speed limits, never drive after drinking, use the seatbelt, and keep the inspection and insurance valid. Behind the boilerplate is a quarter-million drivers caught above the law in sixteen weeks — and 127 families notified that someone is not coming home.