An overview of road safety in Greece

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of the road safety issue in Greece. First, road fatalities are investigated, and their characteristics and temporal and other variations are analysed. Then the severity of accidents is presented. It is found that the most serious accident types in Greece do not include head on collisions, as expected, but collisions to fixed object or vehicle, pedestrian accidents and coming off the road. Then, a comparison of road accidents in Greece to the fourteen other EU countries is carried out. The trends show that Greece is in one of the worst positions within the EU. Greece seems also to belong to a group of countries, including South European countries and Ireland, which present road safety characteristics significantly different from those of the other EU countries. The reasons for these differences are explained in detail. Finally, the paper proceeds to a description of the safety measures already implemented in Greece, and concludes with recommendations for improving road safety in this country.