Traffic fatalities in 2023 finally stands at 34

The final total of traffic deaths in Cyprus in 2023 reached 34, marking a continuing downward trend in deaths on the road, police spokesman Christos Andreou said on Tuesday.

Numbers have fallen every year since 2020, when 48 road traffic deaths were recorded. In 2021, the figure was 45, while in 2022, it was 37.

A total of five people died in road traffic accidents in December, while June was the worst month of the year with 10 recorded deaths in total.

Andreou said that initiatives carried out by the police to reduce the number of accidents include the introduction of speed cameras.

He added that “the main causes of fatal road collisions are speeding, driving without a seatbelt, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, driving without one’s hands on the wheel, and, in the case of motorcyclists, not wearing a helmet.”

Last week when the total had reached 33 deaths, a police spokesperson told the Cyprus Mail that initiatives undertaken by the police had “gone a long way” to bringing the number of road deaths down.

“We’ve gone to schools, spoken to teenagers, to people in the army. We’ve run road safety campaigns, and having cameras on the road has also played a role,” they said.

Additionally, Christou said the crash in Kato Polemidia over the New Year’s period which killed four people was recorded as having taken place at 12:30am on January 1, and will thus be counted in the figures for 2024.

The downward trend of road traffic deaths in the Republic sits in stark contrast to the picture on the roads in the north, where the number of fatalities in 2023 was almost double that of the figure recorded the previous year.

In total, 47 people died in road traffic accidents in the north last year, up from 24 in 2022. That year’s figure had been a considerable decrease on previous years, and the joint lowest in the last decade.

However, last year’s total of 47 road traffic deaths was the highest number the north has seen since 2013, and a larger number than that seen in the Republic, despite the north’s smaller population and lower number of road users.

A study conducted by Professor Okan Veli Safakli at the north’s European University of Lefke (EUL) showed that the north had the fourth-most dangerous roads in Europe, with only Latvia, Romania and Turkey having higher death rates per capita on their roads.

Previous comments by Mehmet Avci, the president of the north’s Association for the prevention of traffic accidents, lay the blame at the foot of drivers.

Speaking to Turkish Cypriot newspaper Cyprus Today, he had lamented “disorderly behaviour” on the part of road users, while also saying that “drivers do not feel the authority of the state on the roads.

“Everyone knows that they should not drive fast and drink alcohol over the limit,” he said, adding that there should be “deterrent penalties” for those who violate the laws.