State of road safety attacked
Road safety campaigners yesterday slammed the inadequacy of government measures to reduce traffic accidents and claimed that almost half a million Greeks will be killed, maimed or injured in crashes this decade. At a meeting organized by Attica traffic police, Vassilis Theodorou, head of a support group for road accident victims, said that between 2001 and 2010, 25,000 Greeks would die in crashes, 75,000 would suffer disability and 350,000 would be injured. Theodorou said one in 10 Greek hospital beds are taken up by road accident victims. He said the previous government’s plan to reduce accidents failed because it lacked independent funding or a strategic plan, relying instead on the cooperation of seven ministries. Other reasons given for the parlous situation on Greek roads were regular highway code infringements, a lack of driver etiquette and slack law enforcement.
