While some arrive at accidents worried about what is happening immediately, saving lives or minimizing the consequences for those involved, the focus of these GNR soldiers is the traces, the details, because that is where the answers lie.
The soldiers from the GNR’s road accident criminal investigation unit are spread across various districts and have investigated, on average, more than 1,300 accidents in recent years. It is up to them to explain what no one has often seen, to have the answers that only traces can provide.
When traditional methods are not enough, the GNR concentrates part of the processes in the criminal investigation division in Alcabideche. Each measurement and detail is then worked on electronically and the result allows the courts to understand how each participant experienced the moment of the accident.
In 2022, 406 people died and more than 1,700 were seriously injured. Numbers that increased the following year to 408 fatalities and 1,861 serious injuries. This is, in fact, one of the greatest difficulties faced by these soldiers: creating a barrier between reason and emotion.
In recent years, the investigation of these soldiers has evolved into road crimes. They are the ones who often help to understand what patrols find during roadside inspections.
For example, the placement of a magnet that changes the number of hours a truck driver spends behind the wheel. The digital tachograph helps to reduce the number of irregularities in drivers’ rest times, but as the years go by there are more and more methods to circumvent the law.
Teamwork is the solution to greater success in detecting these crimes. The Viseu GNR is, for example, investigating companies that use more than one registration plate per trailer or semi-trailer.
In just one operation that SIC monitored, dozens of heavy goods vehicles were inspected and 30 administrative offenses were registered, some of which were related to disrespect for rest times.
