June 2020

Police arrested a 30-year-old man after he fled Bases police and attempted to evade state authorities in Limassol first thing on Saturday morning.

According to police, the 30-year-old, who had two passengers (18 and 16) in his car, failed to stop when signalled to do so by bases authorities. Instead, police said, he accelerated and intentionally hit a bases police car with two officers inside.

He then accelerated again and fled the scene, while police chased his vehicle and called for aid from the Republic of Cyprus authorities.

Upon entering the Republic of Cyprus areas in the Ypsonas area, police attempted to stop his vehicle again.

The 30-year-old refused and attempting to flee, he drove onto the opposite side of the road, where eventually he cashed into a 22-year-old’s car and one more police vehicle with two officers inside. He then hit into the same bases’ police car that was chasing him, a little further down the road, police said.

After hitting the vehicles, the 30-year-old’s car climbed onto the pavement, and then hit a tree, where it stopped.

All the drivers, the 22-year-old, the 30-year-old and his two passengers, and four officers in the police cars were injured and were taken to hospital.

Doctors determined the drivers were all lightly injured in the crashes, with the most serious injury being that of the 30-year-old, who fractured his hand.

All were discharged after receiving first aid, and the 30-year-old was arrested for a variety of traffic violations.

He refused to take an alcotest and narcotest.

Source: Driver arrested after refusing to stop, ramming police car – Cyprus Mail

More than 680 people were booked for traffic violations on Saturday during a police operation in all towns to crack down road offences.

According to the police of over 680 offences, 374 referred to speeding and 28 drunk driving.

One car was confiscated as were six motorbikes, a quad bike and a moped.

Source: 680 booked for traffic offences – Cyprus Mail

Cyprus ranks 18th in the EU in road deaths, according to the 14th annual Road Safety Performance Report published on Wednesday by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC).

In 2019 there was an increase of 6.1 per cent in road deaths in Cyprus. There were 52 road deaths were recorded, three more than in 2018.

With last year’s increase, Cyprus has fallen one notch, from 17th to 18th place in the EU in deaths per capita.

A 3 per cent decrease was recorded overall in the EU in 2019.

Out of 32 countries monitored by the programme, 16 registered a decrease in road deaths in 2019 compared to 2018.

Luxembourg leads the ranking with a 39 per cent reduction in the number of road deaths between 2018 and 2019.15 It is followed by Sweden with a 32 per cent decrease, Estonia with 22 per cent and Switzerland with 20 per cent.

The number of road deaths increased in 12 countries, while progress stagnated in four. The largest increases were registered in Israel with 17 per cent, Denmark with 14 per cent, Slovenia with 12 per cent, Slovakia with 7 per cent and Lithuania and Cyprus with 6 per cent.

However, the report said annual numbers of deaths in Luxembourg and Malta are particularly small and are, therefore, subject to substantial annual fluctuation. Annual numbers of deaths in Cyprus and Estonia are also relatively small and, therefore, may be subject to considerable annual fluctuation.

This may explain why, though deaths in Cyprus increased, the number of seriously injured in road accidents in the country decreased.

The number of people recorded as seriously injured, based on national definitions, decreased in 18 out of 23 EU member states that collect data. However, in the EU23 collectively the progress in reducing serious road traffic injures remains insignificant since 2010.

Serious injuries recorded in Germany and the Netherlands increased and this has had a significant effect on the EU average as recorded serious injuries in these countries represent 48 per cent of all recorded serious injury data in the EU25.

The number of serious injuries increased by 45 per cent in Malta, by 13 per cent in the Netherlands, 11 per cent the UK and 9 per cent in Germany since 2010. At the other end of the ranking is Greece – it achieved the biggest decrease in the number of recorded serious injuries since 2010 with a 63 per cent reduction, followed by Cyprus with 42 per cent and Belgium with 35 per cent.

“It is now considered impossible to achieve the goal of reducing road deaths by 50 per cent from 2010 to 2020, as a reduction of 34.5 per cent is required this year, compared to 2019,” the report concluded.

“A reduction in road deaths is expected this year, of course, due to the restrictive measures taken to deal with the pandemic of Covid-19, but it is considered unlikely to be so great that it will achieve the goal. But even if that happens, it cannot be considered an achievement.”

 

Source: Road deaths up 6.1% in Cyprus – Cyprus Mail

Police on Monday caught a 15-year-old boy driving an articulated lorry on the motorway with the registered owner of the vehicle sitting in the passenger seat.

Officers of the traffic accident prevention unit stopped the truck at around 9.40am on the Limassol to Nicosia motorway near the exit to Kotsiatis and found a 15-year-old behind the wheel.

The minor had no licence nor insurance.

During checks, the officers determined that the registered owner of the truck was sitting in the passenger seat.

A trailer towed by the truck had no road worthiness certificate after it expired in 2013. The vehicle’s licence had also expired in December last year.

The pair were taken to the police station where they were charged to be summoned at a later date.

Source: Teenager caught driving articulated lorry – Cyprus Mail