Filenews 14 September 2024
Shocking analysis of fatal road crashes this year that killed 11 more people than last year. Nine out of 29 people died because they were simply engaging with their phones while driving, distracting them and losing control of their vehicle.
Data from the Traffic Department after analyzing each of the 26 fatal accidents shows evidence that at the time of the collision, the driver was busy with the mobile phone and was driving carelessly. The analysis of the causes that led to the increase in deaths on the roads was made last Wednesday at the Road Safety Council, by the assistant head of the Traffic Police, Haris Evripidou.
According to the analysis obtained by "F", to date there have been 26 collisions with 29 victims. Compared to the same period last year, we have nine more fatal road collisions and 11 more victims.
Nine lives were lost in Nicosia district, eight in Limassol, seven in Larnaka, one in Paphos, three in Famagusta and one in Morfou. Two of the seven victims in Larnaca died on a motorway and one in Nicosia.
17 of the 26 fatal accidents have occurred in residential areas and six on secondary roads, while three occurred on motorways. January, May and June saw the most fatalities, 5, 6 and 5 respectively.
Most victims were drivers or passengers of saloon vehicles (14 out of 29). Also, seven victims were pedestrians, which is worrying, since this year the fatalities are increased compared to previous years. The number of motorcyclists also remains high, with seven victims, while one was a cyclist.
In relation to the seat belt, seven of the 14 victims (drivers and passengers) did not wear a seat belt, i.e. one in two fatalities.
Also, four of the seven dead motorcyclists were not wearing a protective helmet. For two persons, death resulted from traumatic brain injury and for four from polytrauma. A motorcyclist was a food delivery man. In three cases where a motorcyclist was killed, there was no vehicle involved, in two the collision was head-on, while in one case the responsibility lies solely with the motorcyclist and in a second with the driver of a vehicle. At the same time, eight of the 29 victims were foreigners (i.e. seven were student workers and one tourist). The majority of victims on the roads are men, with 21 drivers being men and five women of the 26 collisions.
Mobile use
Regarding the causes of fatal collisions, traffic police data show that nine out of 26 collisions were caused by careless driving or distraction mainly due to mobile phone use.
Five cases involved an error on the part of a pedestrian at the time of the intersection. Alcohol is responsible for two fatalities, while the rest of the cases are related to violations of the Road Traffic Code, such as turning right as traffic lights are turning red, turning around and generally violating traffic signals.
