LAST YEAR saw the least number of serious traffic accidents and road deaths on the island since the creation of the Republic, Police Chief Michalis Papageorgiou said yesterday.
Despite the good news, Papageorgiou revealed that a staggering 55 per cent of children are not strapped into seat belts while in the car.
“We conducted a visual survey and checked 13,332 cars to see how many of drivers and passengers wore seatbelts. We found that 91 per cent of people in cities wore seatbelts, while only 74.8 per cent of people wore seatbelts in rural areas,” said the police chief.
“A startling statistic was that 55.2 per cent of children do not wear seatbelts in cars; this figure also includes children riding in the back seat,” he added.
Papageorgiou said they could save many lives. Nearly three quarters of all road victims last year were not wearing seatbelts, the Papageorgiou said.
According to the figures which the police chief presented, in 2010 there were a total of 60 deaths, 11 fewer than 2009, or in percentage terms, 15.49 per cent less. Of the 60 deaths, 13 were pedestrians, 21 were on motorbikes and 24 were in cars.
There were also 588 serious injuries last year, which was 9.12 per cent lower than 2009 when there were 647 serious injuries from accidents on the road.
Papageorgiou also pinpointed the three groups of people that according statistics were more likely to be involved in an accident.
Foreign nationals are a group that seem to have an unusually high death rate accounting for 33 per cent of all victims. In 2009, 32 per cent of those who died on the roads were foreigners.
“A second group that is particular vulnerable on the road appears to be motorcyclists,” added Papageorgiou who said that 21 died on the road last year. These accounted for 35 per cent of total deaths.
The third group outlined by the chief were young drivers aged 18-25, accounting for 30 per cent of victims. There was a slight improvement on 2009 when 46 per cent of fatalities were under the age of 25.
Despite the noticeable improvement, some of the figures were still disturbing such as the total number of drink drivers.
Papageorgiou warned of the importance of not driving after drinking. He said that last year, 43 per cent of people who died in road accidents were above the legal limit. This was the highest number ever, he said, adding that alcohol has been the main cause of deadly accidents for the past five years.
A total of 174,584 of alcohol tests were conducted last year with one in 19 people found over the limit. Some 85 per cent of the people charged were male.
Papageorgiou warned that a lot of work needs to be done yet to reach the EU target of a 50 per cent reduction in road deaths by 2020.
The police shief outlined the target for the next decade as provided to him by the European Union: “We plan to reduce our figures by 50 per cent over the next ten years, the European Union set a very strict guideline and we plan to reach the figures they have asked for,” he concluded.
