Faced with an escalating number of smash-ups and unnecessary deaths, Greek officials resolved to make a U-turn in the nation’s disheartening traffic safety record in 2000. After extensive research carried out by the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens and the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB Transport Research), an Interministerial Committee on Road Safety was formed in June 2001 to implement a new strategy and to reverse long-standing negative trends.

Now, over three years into the government’s anti-collision campaign, Greece has witnessed its first sustained period of systematic reductions in traffic accidents and fatalities.

Entitled On the Road 2001-2005, the ongoing programme has set lofty but necessary goals: to reduce the number of traffic fatalities by 20% in the period between 2001 and 2005 and by 40% by 2015. Priority areas for the campaign include construction of driver-friendly infrastructure, better enforcement against violations leading to accidents (such as speeding and drunk driving) as well as improved driver training.

Improving safety standards
So far, the results are promising. According to Care , the Community Road Accident Data Base supported by the European Commission , traffic fatalities in Greece fell by 16% between 2000 and 2002. Provisional statistics for 2003 suggest that this figure dropped another by 4% last year. The ministry of public order attributes the encouraging figures to increased police surveillance and changes in the driving terrain.

Concerning future expectations, Impetus , a private Greek engineering company with a risk management sector, has predicted that the opening of the new Attiki Odos (Attica Ring Road) will lead to a 12% decrease in the number of accidents in the Attica region. Likewise, major improvements on both busy urban roads, such as Kifisias Avenue, and dangerous rural passes, such as the national road’s Kakia Skala , are likely to keep both road rage and calamities at bay.

In October of 2002, a team of four Greek professors at a workshop on International Cooperation on Theories and Concepts in Traffic Safety concluded that, “The overall result of the new initiative, is definitely an improvement in the road safety level”.

Not so fast
Though striking, Greece’s road safety gains are also slightly misleading. Simply because things were so bad prior to 2001, it is easy to jump to the conclusion that the Greek roads are now paved with gold. Wrong. Measured in terms of population, Greece continues to suffer more fatalities per year than every other European country but Portugal . Moreover, despite recent improvements, the number of deadly crashes on Greek roads still far exceeds the European average .

Large sections of the national road network are still notoriously dangerous. For the citizens of Kamena Vourla, a small town that lies on the national highway between Athens and Lamia , the familiar stretch of road at their doorstep is infamously known as To petalo tou thanatou (Death’s Horseshoe). Until all the main arteries of the network meet basic safety standards, driving is likely to be risky business.

In short, compared with its own sad history, one littered with a trail of grisly pile-ups, Greece’s progress is indeed stellar; but compared with the safety conditions in the rest of Europe, Greece has still a long way to go.

Reforming road rage
How did things get so ugly? In areas as congested as central Athens, keeping traffic moving often takes precedence over patrolling against those who violate the road rules. When law enforcement officials turn a blind eye to traffic infringements, drivers establish between themselves an unwritten code of acceptable behaviour. The net result often bears closer resemblance to the regulations at a demolition derby than anything you learned in drivers-ed.

Once ingrained, habits of non-compliance are difficult to break. As a trip down any of Greece’s main thoroughfares will prove, excessive speeding, tailgating, reckless passing, laying on the horn, flashing “brights”, and offering up antagonistic hand gestures have become as commonplace as stopping at a red light. Combine aggressive driving with poor roads and high levels of congestion in both the cities and outlying areas and you get what Greece had until 2001, i.e. unprecedented and mounting trafficking fatality rates.

Although changing drivers’ attitudes will be difficult, the government’s shift in focus towards improving roads, boosting police enforcement and training new drivers is obviously on target. With proper education, even young, testosterone-charged males may think twice before putting the pedal to the metal and thus putting lives at risk. If executed with vigilance, On the Road just might be able to drive home the point that being behind the wheel is a privilege that demands responsibility.