Road safety ambassadors appointed, aim to reduce fatalities by 50%

Two road safety ambassadors were appointed on Monday by the road safety council as part of efforts to cut traffic fatalities by 50 per cent.

Speaking at the start of world Road Safety Week, Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades said that despite improvements, the rate of fatal traffic accidents is still higher than what is aimed for and far from the “zero vision” which is the long-term goal.

Earlier in the month the minister had stated that the latest statistics showed the rate of road fatalities on the island to have remained about the same as last year. The goal is to reduce the island’s road deaths by 50 per cent, at least, by 2030, the minister said.

Over 1.3 million people worldwide die on the road each year, more than two per minute, the minister said, citing WHO data, and this is the leading cause of death among children and young people aged 5-29.

Vafeades said the impending green shift from car-use to walking, cycling and using public transport will make road safety both a precondition and a result of this envisioned change.

New road safety ambassadors are appointed every two years. Incoming ambassadors are Michalis Pavlides, co-founder of Yparho, a non-profit organisation dedicated to equal rights for disabled people and 26-year-old Nascar racer Vladimiros Tziortzis.

Justice Minister Anna Procopiou thanked outgoing ambassadors for raising awareness among young people, students, soldiers and road users in general, and for the work they had carried out including information campaigns, lectures and workshops in schools and military camps.

The minister expressed confidence that the new ambassadors through their “energetic and optimistic capacity for social action” would to continue transmitting the message of ‘road conscience’ to the public.

She described them as role models who work hard and methodically to achieve their dreams and goals.

“Our common goal is to achieve a better and safer tomorrow for Cyprus, to create a generation of more conscientious drivers and to achieve zero losses on our roads,” Procopiou said.