RSI Panos Mylonas on the occasion of recent road fatalities in Greece

In the light of of the recent tragic incident on the coastal road where two young girls lost their lives and also reflecting on the increased number of road traffic crashes in our country in general, the President of Road Safety Institute (RSI) "Panos Mylonas", Mrs. Vassiliki Danelli-Mylonas, was invited to the national television of Greece (ERT) to talk about road crashes, which are currently recorded in the urban road network.
Watch the interview here.
According to data from the Hellenic Police, from the beginning of 2023 until October, a total of 9,352 road traffic crashes occurred, of which 492 were fatal, while in all of 2022 there were 9,195 road crashes.
Speeding seems to be the leading cause of these crashes, followed by drink-driving. The third cause is failing to stop at a red traffic light.
"Greece has the highest percentage of fatal road crashes in urban areas with 56%, while the rest of Europe has 38%. This suggests that we have safer motorways than in the rest of Europe, but this percentage within urban areas is very alarming", stated Mrs Mylonas.
"Law enforcement is the most crucial issue, because we do have laws but they are not enforced. There have been countries, for example, Ireland, where a fatal accident involving young children served as a catalyst for changing and tightening legislation. Notably, this was also accompanied by systematic and strict controls, especially for novice drivers during the first two years after obtaining their license," she added.
"The law and the role of the Traffic Police is very, very important. It must be supported with modern means, trained personnel, radars, and modern technology equipment. It is something that has not been given sufficient priority."
Regarding seat belts, she mentioned that 88% of young people aged 15 to 30 who lost their lives in road crashes were not wearing seat belts, and similarly, 66% of motorcyclists were not wearing helmets.
"If we look again at the Hellenic Statistical Authority data for 2020, 32% of passengers killed in road crashes were people aged 24 years and under. And we can say that, in Europe, it is the young Greeks who rank again at the top of this league of tragedy."
"We see that when young people are informed and when they are aware, they change their behavior. We have trained 300,000 children in school classes and 7,500 educators to know the subject matter, and when we leave the classroom, they can connect it thematically and speak to the children about Road Safety. We have seen a 54% reduction in fatal road crashes in the last decade, but unfortunately, post COVID, we saw this number increase, and road crashes increase dramatically" she concluded.
Note: The above material comes from ERT News and can be found here.
Meanwhile, the President of the Institute with distinguished guests Antonio Avenoso, Executive Director of the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) and Michael Woodford, MBE, President and CEO of the Safer Roads Foundation (SRF www.saferroadsfoundation.org) took a stand on the crucial issue of Road Safety in the main newscast of Star Channel while they, also, held meetings at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation and the Ministry of Citizen Protection.
Watch the reportage here.
In addition, the President gave interviews to the MEGA television station and plenty of radio stations in the country about this topic.
NEWSDESK
Festive Nationwide Awareness Campaign for Road Safety by the Hellenic Road Safety Institute (RSI)
27/Dec/2024
Intervention for the enhancement of Road Safety on Athinas Street by the Road Safety Institute (RSI) Panos Mylonas
03/Nov/2024