Two more road deaths lead Justice Minister to despair
JUSTICE MINISTER Sophocles Sophocleous yesterday expressed his despair after two more young people were killed on the weekend roads. The deaths take 2007 road toll to 14.
“It is unfair that lives are lost this way. This is suicide.
“Police campaigns involve both preventative and repressive measures. We are doing everything we can so young drivers gain a better road conscience,” he said.
Both accidents involved people under the age of 25. Since the beginning of the year, nine out of the 14 people that lost their lives on the road were under 25.
Nicosia Deputy Police Chief Demetris Demetriou called on young drivers to be extremely careful.
“What else can the police do? As well as the warnings and the strict regulations and also the large number of checks carried out, it cannot be present at every point on the road network.
Young drivers should be responsible to protect not only their own life, but the lives of others,” he said.
The weekend started off on a bad note, with the first accident taking place in Limassol, when Paraskevas Panayi died in a car crash in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The 23-year-old, driving home to Trachoni after a night out, lost control of his car and skidded along a road, hitting a parked vehicle before crashing into the side of a house. According to the Police, Panayi is said to have died immediately after the impact. Police say he had not been wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.
The 14th death took place on Saturday night, after it was reported that 23-year-old Yiannis Ioannou was having a high speed race with another youth, both driving their high-powered motorbikes on Grivas Digenis Avenue.
Due to his excessive speed, Ioannou, a sergeant in the National Guard, lost control of his motorbike opposite the Hilton Park Hotel. As he was attempting to maintain his balance, he fell off his bike. The 23-year-old was killed instantly; his helmet did nothing to protect him at that speed.
The other motorcyclist fled the scene as soon as the accident occurred. He was found a few hours later at his home in Lakatamia.
In a separate incident, a 19-year-old army cadet was injured on Saturday afternoon. Stelios Markides’ car was overturned after it was struck by a car being driven by a 23-year-old. Markides has been in the Intensive Care Unit of the Nicosia General Hospital since the incident.
Over the weekend, police charged 54 individuals with drink drinking after carrying out 872 checks throughout the island on Saturday night and the early hours of Sunday.
Police Chief Charalambos Koulendis has been urging the Justice Ministry to rethink their strategy and allow the detention of drunk drivers in police cells overnight.
Justice Minister Sophocles Sophocleous reportedly shares the same opinion as Koulendis, with support also given by Deputies on the House Legal and Communication Committees.
Last month, the Attorney-general ruled that it was illegal for police to arrest and detain drink drivers, adding that a number of people had already sued the state for doing so.
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