President of Cyprus backs Think campaign

Tassos Papadopoulos endorsed the Think campaign at a press conference on 26 May held by the Cyprus Automobile Association (CAA), the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Communications and Works, the Cyprus Traffic Police and Lefkaritis Bros Ltd., representation of Bridgestone tyres in Cyprus.

CAA Chairman Philios Zachariades thanked President Papadopoulos for his support which “demonstrates the Government’s interest and concern about the number of road traffic accidents in Cyprus and its desire to take positive action to solve the problem.”

Vice-Chairman Antonis Michaelides said that is a world-wide problem: “According to international statistics, 1.2 million people die and 50 million are injured in road accidents every year. Here in Cyprus, were you to total the number of deaths on the roads over a decade, the shocking truth is that it would be the equivalent to the obliteration of a whole community. Tackling this problem is a team effort and will see both the police and government ministries launching a concerted campaign including a host of events targeted at raising public awareness for safer driving”.

He continued: “children are 59% more likely to survive an accident if child seats are used, while the use of seat belts has saved 300,000 lives over the past 20 years”.

The Minister for Communications and Works Haris Thrasou said: “We must create a road safety awareness culture and keep it in place. We must also remember that it is not just a problem for the State to solve – it concerns everybody and all road users share the responsibility. Cyprus cannot go on seeing so many fatalities on the roads every year. Things must change.”

The Think campaign in Cyprus will focus on public awareness events including demonstrations on the importance of child restraints and seat belts in Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca and Paphos. Think campaign leaflets in Greek and Turkish will be distributed at major petrol stations of Lekfaritis Bros, where advice will also be given on how to correctly adjust head restraints and tyre condition checks will be carried out.

Cyprus has 13.3 road traffic accident fatalities per 100,000 residents, above the EU average of 10.3 to every 100,000. The government has committed itself in its National Road Safety Plan for 2005-2010 to curb road deaths by 50% by 2010 and has announced a series of measures. These include reducing drink driving limits from 0.9 mg/ml to 0.5 mg/ml and introducing speed and traffic cameras in September to combat excessive speed and passing through red lights, which are the two main causes of serious road accidents in Cyprus. Fourty cameras (33 fixed and 7 mobile) have been activated across the island with an initial test period until the mid-October. There are plans for 450 cameras on Cyprus over the next four years at a cost of 6.5 million euros.

Results of the European SARTRE 3 study  (Social Attitudes to Road Traffic Risk in Europe) have shown that Cypriots have a bad habit of speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol, talking on their mobile phones while driving, not wearing seat belts and not using child restraint systems. It is hoped that the Think campaign will help the Cypriots kick those bad habits.