Current Road Safety Trends in Greece

Abstract

Greece is among the worst performing countries in Europe in terms of road safety with one of the highest annual rates of fatalities per million inhabitants in the EU. However, a gradual decrease has been recorded over time. The bad performance of Greece in road safety is partially due to institutional problems such as inefficient organization of public administration, lack of organized structures of the State with responsibility for road safety, non-accountability of stakeholders in relation to the implementation of actions and inadequate funding for road safety. The most critical, road user behavior related, accident factors include speeding, low usage rates of seat belts and helmets, unorganized and unprotected traffic of vulnerable road users, drink-driving, use of mobile phones while driving and generalized aggressive driving. In Greece, a great potential for safety improvement exists, if serious effort for tackling the above major critical factors is made.