Volvo sponsors 2nd road safety week
Two in five motorists have been fined with tickets for speeding, not wearing a seatbelt, driving while using a mobile phone and other offences rising from 137,000 in 2004 to 200,000 this year.
Although these fines are expected to earn the state some CYP 5 mln, 2 mln more than last year, some CYP 1.4 mln from this amount last year when to local administration and the rest to the government coffers.
“This is not even a fraction of the money that the motoring fines are purported to be making,” said Police Chief Tasos Panayiotou.
He was speaking at the launch of the 2nd Volvo road safety week, sponsored by CTC Automotive, in cooperation with the Police and Simerini newspaper, that will include an intensive promotion among younger people to wear seat belts.
“Children from three years and up who have just left the baby seat and are not yet 1.50m tall should sit in the back and must wear seat belts at all times,” said Theodoros Achilleos, Head of the Police Traffic Dept.
Police teams and safety experts from Volvo will visit schools and police training centres, while a painting competition entitled “Drive Safely” is open to all 6 to 12 year olds. The first prize in the competition is a Volvo V50 Estate (for the parents) and two pairs of tickets to Eurodisney for the second and third best entries.
Justice Minister Doros Theodorou said that 3110 people have died on Cyprus roads since 1974, 34,000 have been seriously injured with disabilities or seeking extensive therapy, and 97,000 slightly injured.
Of the fatalities 20-30% were foreigners.
Police Chief Panayiotou said, “I am confident in the future generations, with better results in reducing accidents and road deaths.”
He said that the Danish ambassador visited him recently and told him that in Denmark a license is rescinded if a motorist accumulates three points in total offences in their drivers’ license, not 12 as is the case in Cyprus.
Theodoros Achilleos said that of the 52 fatalities in 2004, 29 did not wear seat belts, while based on WHO statistics, 18 of those could have survived. In 2005, five children were killed in road accidents, two of whom were pedestrians while three were not wearing seat belts.
