Madeira faces unprecedented car saturation, with daily traffic suffocating the region's arteries and road accidents increasing as a direct consequence of this chaos. The ease of converting and validating foreign driving licences has introduced hundreds of drivers unfamiliar with local rules and without the proper skill for the island's unique orography onto the roads. This situation is aggravated by the massive presence of rental vehicles, with rent-a-car companies operating without any maximum fleet cap, daily dumping thousands of new cars onto the streets.
The article denounces an inversion of logic in the region's transport planning, where severe limits are imposed on the activity of driver service vehicles, such as taxis and TVDE, while rent-a-car companies continue to operate freely. This asymmetry penalises shared transport alternatives and encourages individual vehicle use, overloading road infrastructure already at the limit of its capacity.
The author warns that the idea of solving the problem through the continuous widening of the road network is a dangerous illusion. Madeira's steep topography prevents the infinite expansion of roads without irreversibly sacrificing the landscape, agricultural areas, and hillsides that define the island. Additional asphalt only attracts more traffic in a vicious cycle that strips the region of its character.
The scenario is equally aggravated by the demographic transformation the island is undergoing, with accelerated population growth from the permanent settling of tourists, digital nomads, and temporary residents. The proposed solution involves imposing limits on rental fleets, investing in road traffic law enforcement and licence revalidation control, and creating a truly efficient, electric, and comprehensive public transport system, above the commercial interests of the automobile and unregulated tourism sectors.
