Pafos Press 31 October 2024
Protoselidos hosted the former deputy chief of the Police, Dimitris Dimitriou, who spoke about the increase in fatal traffic accidents.
As he said, from the beginning of the year until today, there have been 35 fatal traffic collisions with 38 deaths, while in the corresponding period last year we had 25 fatal collisions with 27 deaths. “There is a 10-fold increase in the number of fatal collisions and an 11-fold increase in the number of fatalities. Last year was the best year with 33 deaths of all times since the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus".
For this year he said we had a large number of pedestrians, a total of 10, while of the 17 drivers and passengers who lost their lives, 9 were not wearing seat belts. In addition, he noted that out of 10 motorcyclists, 6 did not wear a helmet. "Out of the 15 dead, 12 would have been in their homes if they were wearing seat belts and helmets.
"It is unthinkable in 2024 to talk about whether they were wearing a helmet or a belt. 15-20 years ago we were talking about a three-digit number of dead in Cyprus, the dead were almost 110, there was a significant improvement, but if we convince everyone to wear seat belts and helmets, we solved the problem" said Mr. Dimitriou.
Asked if the mobile and fixed cameras play a role, he said that the number one cause of fatalities today is speed and distraction.
Speaking about traffic, he said that "the only solution is to install the SCOOT system in the traffic lights".
