277 people died on Croatian roads since the beginning of this year.
As many as 277 people have died on Croatian roads since the beginning of this year, which is an increase compared to the last year when 265 people lost their lives on roads in the first ten months, reports tportal.hr on November 19, 2017.
Secretary-General of the European Traffic Police Network (TISPOL) Ruth Purdie, who participated in a meeting with Croatian police officials, said that 70 people are killed every day on European roads, with the number of deaths in an average year reaching about 26,000. “Our goal is to reduce this number to zero deaths in traffic,” said Purdie, adding that particular attention should be directed towards young drivers who are increasingly involved in traffic accidents with fatalities.
The TISPOL Secretary-General emphasised the importance of the cooperation of European police forces which are brought together in the European traffic police network. Of particular importance are joint road safety initiatives which are often simultaneously implemented by of all 28 members of the European Union.
The meeting of Croatian traffic police leadership, which was held in Valbandon in Istria, brought together the heads of road traffic safety department, the chiefs of the traffic police stations from all police administration areas, and representatives of the Traffic Police Mobile Unit.
The head of the Road Safety Service of the Interior Ministry Josip Mataija said that they analysed the road safety situation during the first ten months of 2017. “This year, 277 people were killed on our roads, as opposed to 265 people in the first ten months of last year,” Mataija said, adding that 2016 was a particularly good year because the lowest number of fatalities was recorded in traffic since the statistics on road traffic safety were first collected in this way.
He pointed out that, despite an increase in the number of deaths, there was a decrease in the number of severely injured people in traffic accidents.
In order to improve the road safety situation by the end of the year, traffic police officials will introduce new measures and activities that will be targeted at the most severe traffic violations such as speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol, non-use of safety belts, and improper use of mobile phones during driving.
Translated from tportal.hr.
