Data obtained from the National Road Safety Agency (ANSR) show that the number of fines handed to foreigners visiting the country in their cars had risen from little over 7,000 in 2014 to 30,458 in 2016.
Most of these fines were for minor infringements, the ANSR said, adding that around 90 percent of all fines handed to foreign motorists are paid, with the threat of temporarily losing their documents serving as incentive enough for foreign drivers to settle their dues with Portuguese traffic police.
This while Portugal has reportedly been failing in its obligation to hand over details of national motorists detected committing traffic offences in other European countries.
Following the introduction of the EUCARIS system, which allows all EU states to exchange information on offending drivers, José Miguel Trigoso of the national road prevention group said technical incompatibilities with the system and the national registry office had seen Portugal unable to hand over details of offenders.
The information exchange system provides an infrastructure and software to countries to share, among other things, their car and driving licence registration information and is also aimed at helping fight car theft and registration fraud.
EUCARIS has been developed by and for governmental authorities and is intended to support all kinds of transport-related information exchange.
Once fully operational, the system will allow Portugal to recoup money from a number of areas, including the owners of foreign-registered vehicles who intentionally or out of ignorance fail to pay e-tolls on motorways such as the Algarve’s A22.