‘Over one in ten dies on the roads from drugs’
AROUND 15 per cent of people killed in traffic accidents between November 2001 and 2004 had used drugs, the House Legal Affairs Committee heard yesterday.
The figures were presented by the police during the discussion concerning the proposed increases of on the spot fines in a bid to curb road accidents.
AKEL deputy Yiannakis Thoma suggested the introduction of drug testing for drivers in combination with alcohol testing.
But the committee heard that that would be quite difficult, at least in the short run, as police did not have the equipment, which was also very expensive.
Speaking after the meeting, police traffic director Andreas Paphitis said the force was concerned by the fact that 14.8 per cent of those killed in road accidents were found to have used illicit substances.
He added that the matter would be studied by police drug experts.
On the issue of fines, deputies again appeared reluctant to grant the government the authority to raise fines up to £200 across the board whenever it thought fitting.
The state assured that it was not going to increase fines to £200 but the bill under scrutiny before the committee gives the government the power to do that at a later stage without going through the House.
The state said it would be doubling on the spot fines to £100 for failure to wear seatbelts and crash helmets as well as for the use of a mobile phone while driving.
Running a red light would also cost motorists £100.
Failure to stop at a pedestrian crossing would go up to £100 from the current £15 while parking on a pedestrian crossing would be fined £50.
Parking on corners, traffic lights, and the wrong side of the road – i.e. facing oncoming traffic – would also be punished with a £50 fine.
Paphitis said those three ways of parking were proven to cause accidents.
Speeding fines would go up from £1 to £3 per kilometre, with a maximum £200 fine for 166 kilometres per hour.
In January police reported 3,992 motorists not wearing seatbelts, compared to 11,706 in 2004 and 5,540 in 2003.
In 2004, 1,059 drivers were booked for drink driving, compared to 1,432 the year before and 1,577 in 2002.
Police said the hike of fines from £30 to £50 and the introduction of penalty points for failure to wear crash helmets had curbed the number of motorcycle and moped deaths and their passengers.
