Action needed on road safety
Greece has fallen far short of a target set by the European Union in 2000 to halve road traffic accidents within a decade, the head of the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers told a cross-party road safety committee yesterday. According to Vassilis Halkias, Greece managed to reduce the number of accidents and fatalities on the country’s roads by 23 percent in 10 years, significantly below the EU average of 36 percent. This means that Greece ranks third from last in the 27-nation bloc for its efforts to improve road safety. Still, authorities can significantly improve the situation by implementing a harsher stance against traffic offenders and modernizing the country’s road network. According to Halkias, Greece’s safest road is currently the Attiki Odos highway, with only 0.6 percent of the country’s road fatalities occurring on it. Of the traffic-related deaths recorded on Attiki Odos, however, half are drivers or passengers of motorcycles or scooters.
