OVER NINETY exasperated Ayios Tychonas residents have signed a petition calling for local authority action against young drivers using the densely populated area for illegal road racing along the Limassol to Pyrgos beach road.
The document was presented this week to President of the local Community Board, Pambos Ioannou, and outlines the local’s demands for a regular police presence in the vicinity during the night.
Central to the resident’s complaints is a 24-hour Esso petrol station situated just off the main beach road and close to the Four Seasons hotel. Left unattended after 9pm, residents say that it is used as a meeting place for the young drivers, many of whom are driving cars and motorbikes fitted with noisy and illegal exhaust systems causing disturbances until the early hours of the morning.
Witnesses also reported that drivers race around the station’s petrol pumps and use the forecourt as a ‘skid pan’ area, causing safety concerns amongst the hundreds of residents living near the Esso facility.
One resident who lives close to the petrol station described his experience of the nightly disturbances, “It’s like living next to the starting grid of a Formula One Grand Prix; sometimes I can barely hear myself speaking when I’m out on my balcony at night.”
With Cyprus’ road death toll now standing at 65 for this year, there are fears that an accident in one of the island’s most profitable tourists centres could have an impact on the struggling industry.
Over the past month illegal racing has been targeted by Cyprus police with arrests and vehicles confiscated in Larnaca and Nicosia, whilst Limassol officers were attacked with stones during an attempt to apprehend young car drivers on the Platres road on Thursday evening.
The resident’s petition was discussed in a meeting between Ioannou and new Yermasogia Police Chief, Phillipos Papaelia on Thursday.
“We had a meeting and I showed him the areas from which we have had complaints, he is experienced in these things and will deal with the problem,” Ioannou confirmed, adding that he had also received similar comments from business owners close to the Pyrgos and Parekklisia roundabout near the St Raphael Marina towards the end of the beach road.
“I have asked them to inform me immediately when they see them so that we can catch these racers on the spot.”
Papaelia, the area’s former Head of Traffic, has promised to look into the complaints.
“We have the petition and we will be looking into it the problem of noise and dangerous driving,” he said.
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©Melissa Reynolds, October 2007
