Appalling driver attitudes

Sir,

You have published so many letters and articles about the irresponsible driving standards in Cyprus that one might have thought the message would have got through by now.

Apparently not, since extensive pan-European research by an organisation known as Social Attitudes to Road Traffic Risk in Europe (SARTRE), and funded by the European Commission, has revealed that Cyprus fares very badly indeed within a list of 24 countries. For example, the statistic instancing drivers “who think that wearing a seat belt is not necessary if they drive carefully”, shows Cyprus at the very top of the list (with Finland at the bottom).

The proportion of seatbelts fitted to all to all seats is high in Europe overall, but again, in Cyprus it is worryingly low. Cyprus comes top of the list for making telephone calls while driving, and next to top for thrill-seeking fast driving. (Poland is at the top). The number of drivers penalised for speeding in the island is shockingly high, with an additional piece of research showing that a very significant proportion of Cypriot drivers signal other drivers to warn them about speed traps, reflecting a low regard for police safety enforcement.

Some 36 per cent of Cypriot drivers admit they drive through amber traffic lights, and almost none say they give way to pedestrians on crossings. Some 56 per cent of our local drivers are against speed cameras, which speaks volumes for the likely unpopularity of the measures in this context recently announced.

So the SARTRE statistics when compared throughout Europe sadly show Cyprus in an appalling light, and as I have mentioned before in your columns, it proves to me that Cypriots must love hospital food. . .

Clive Turner, Kamares Village, Tala, Paphos

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.