Police again beating road-safety drum

POLICE are holding a one-day road awareness campaign for pedestrians and cyclists today as part of wider efforts to reduce and prevent traffic accidents on the island.

The campaign will start at 5pm and finish five hours later in popular spots for pedestrians and cyclists around Nicosia, Larnaca, Limassol, Paphos and Famagusta. During the campaign, traffic police will hand out lights and reflectors for cyclists and fluorescent armbands for pedestrians.

For freebie lovers and conscientious road travellers, police will be handing out the road-friendly goodies in Nicosia on Kinyras Road (5-7pm), OXI Square (5-7pm), Palailogu Road (7-8.30pm), Eleftheria Square (8.30-10pm).

No times were given for the following three towns. In Limassol, police will be positioned on the coastal road and Makarios Avenue, near the Laniteio School. In Larnaca, they’ll be on Terra Santa Road and Vasileos Pavlou Square.

In Paphos, next to the Aqua Mare Hotel on Poseidon Avenue, while in Famagusta, in various spots in Paralimni, Ayia Napa, Sotira, Frenaros and Dherynia.

Meanwhile, police also launched a seatbelt campaign on Monday which will continue until February 22. According to statistics, seatbelt use has yet to reach a “satisfactory level” since a large number of road accident victims were not wearing seatbelts.

The campaign will run parallel with a Europe-wide campaign on the Use of Seatbelts, starting next Monday.

In another effort to tackle the paucity in road awareness was the two week police campaign against illegal parking which ended last Sunday. A total of 558 cars were booked for parking illegally on pavements and open spaces.

The population sizes bore little resemblance to the number of offenders as Limassol motorists clocked up the most violations (198), followed by Paphos (162), with the capital’s motorists garnering 105 violations, Larnaca 48, Famagusta 13, and 32 for the island’s highways.

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