ZAGREB, February 11, 2020 – There were 297 road fatalities in Croatia in 2020, the fewest in the past 60 years, but the country is still far from the goal of having fewer than 213 road fatalities annually by the end of this year, a conference on road traffic safety heard on Monday.
The conference on the 2011-20 national road traffic safety programme was organised by the Zagreb Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences and the Interior Ministry.
Speaking to the press afterwards, Minister Davor Božinović said the results were visible as the best steps forward in all segments over the past 60 years were made in 2019.
He underlined the importance of prevention from the youngest age. Speaking of problems in road traffic safety, he mentioned repeat offenders, saying penalties were much stricter under the new Road Traffic Safety Act, as well as old cars, as a large number of crashes are caused by vehicles that are ten or 15 years old, and the condition of roads themselves.
Josip Mataija, head of the Road Traffic Safety Service, said there were 426 traffic-related deaths in 2010 and 297 last year.
He said the goal of having fewer than 213 by the end of this year could be achieved thanks to stricter penalties as well as focus on risk groups such as young and elderly drivers, bicyclists and motorcyclists. He said over 4,200 repeat offenders were caught last year.
Mataija said police would also watch out for speeding, drunk driving, use of mobile phones while driving and not wearing a seat belt.
Asked about the point of stricter penalties if courts assessed offences differently, he said the courts had upheld more than 300 prison sentences, including for one driver who was sentenced to 120 days behind bars.
Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences professor Željko Marušić said it would be tough to have less than 213 traffic fatalities by the end of this year. He pushed for amending the strategy, making the punishment of drivers a certainty, and lower taxes on safe cars.
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