Polemidia resident Demetris Stylianou, aged 16, died in a car accident in Limassol on the night of September 8th, said police.

His cousin, aged 17, was driving without a license and without a seat-belt. The teenagers were in the family’s pick-up truck when the driver lost control, rolling the vehicle over and crushing Demetris Stylianou.

The pick-up truck was on the roads illegally because its registration had been struck off, said police.

The driver tested negative for alcohol and was uninjured.

It is the second road fatality within a week, after a 25-year-old man died in Nicosia.

Practical measures needed

Transport Minister Marios Demetriades and Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou met to discuss critical road safety issues like road lighting, drivers over the age of 70 and outsourcing driver’s education to the private sector.

A database of road accidents would help to plan strategies to reduce them, said the transport minister.

In addition, the ministers discussed a programme to re-train traffic offenders. Similar programmes have been successful in other countries, said the minister.

Dangerous driving

In 2015, police fined 22,000 drivers for various offences. Still, the high number of fatalities due to speeding, dangerous overtaking, driving under the influence or other types of reckless driving have not been significantly reduced.

One of the biggest problems is aggressive or high-risk driving like excessive speeding, running red lights or doing dangerous u-turns. Added to this risk are dangerous road conditions. While the road system has evolved, it is full of one-ways, road signs hidden by trees, faded road lines, while being badly-lit and badly maintained. Combined with high-risk driving, it adds up to road danger, rather than road safety.

Shared responsibility

A solution would be for political leaders, municipalities and MPs to take on the worthwhile cause and channel resources towards educational campaigns and awareness campaigns. A consistent approach towards road safety awareness has not yet been reached. But for the sake of the hundreds of thousands of drivers and passengers who risk their lives daily on the Cyprus roads, it’s about time this changed.

Fixing the roads and planning traffic circulation and parking more effectively would also go a long way towards safer driving conditions.

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