MORE than 300 youths have lost their lives in road accidents in the past decade it emerged yesterday, as authorities said they were looking into ways to cut accidents involving young drivers.
“On average, 24 drivers up to 25 years of age lose their life in traffic collisions in Cyprus every year,” Communications Minister Erato Kozakou Marcoullis said.
“The problem of road collisions involving young drivers is especially serious since their number constitutes over one-third of the total,” she added.
The minister said 326 people up to the age of 25 lost their life in road accidents in the previous decade, though 2010 recorded a decrease compared with previous years.
The number of youths killed on the road ranged between 26 and 45 before 2010, which saw 18 young people killed –the lowest number of dead aged up to 25 years.
The minister put this down to the systematic and persistent collective effort of the state and all its partners, the huge social alliance for road safety.
Marcoullis was speaking at the presentation of a study on cutting road accidents among youths, which will be used in drafting an action plan.
The study’s findings and suggestions will be fully utilised by the road safety council and all state services to achieve the goal of drastically cutting the number of youths killed or injured on the roads, Marcoullis said.
Last Thursday President Demetris Christofias pledged to reduce road deaths by half for the new Road Safety Action Plan 2012-2020.
In addition to the steps the state needed to take, Christofias also spoke of the Cypriot mentality in relation to behaviour on the roads. “We Cypriots, if I may say it, we are a little lackadaisical. When we’re stopped by the police for not wearing a seatbelt or because he wants to do an alcotest, we think that he’s only doing it to bring in revenue for the state,” said Christofias calling for this thinking to end. He said Cypriots were rather “free spirited” to the point where it was bordering on anarchy.
Another practice, which must be abandoned, he said was that of people passing their driving tests because they know the examiner. This type of practice was nothing less than putting a killer on the roads, Christofias said.
