Fatalities on Greek roads dip
The number of people dying on Greece’s roads fell last year for the seventh year in succession but the figure is still high, according to the traffic police, which said yesterday that 1,470 people died in traffic-related accidents in 2005. Officers said 77 fewer people died last year than in 2004. The number of serious injuries related to traffic accidents also dipped, from over 2,500 in 2004 to 2,327 last year. However, 19,133 people suffered light injuries in 2005, almost 2,000 people more than in 2004. Officers said the annual numbers of fatalities on the country’s roads have been decreasing since 1998, one of the worst years on record, when more than 2,200 people were killed in crashes. Despite the declining figures, in 2004 Greece had the third-highest ranking in the EU for road accident fatalities. That year, 153 people per million residents were killed on Greek roads, compared to the EU average of 95. According to the EU Community Road Accident Database, Latvia had the most dangerous roads in 2004 with 220 deaths per million inhabitants.
