Police on Monday are focused on finding ways to boost road safety as it becomes clear that the year’s accident record has been appalling.
The year so far had seen 38 accidents and 43 victims, compared with 26 accidents and 28 victims in 2023, police said.
Prevention of such incidents hinges on education and awareness, police have stressed, as well as conducting the appropriate research.
The self-examination comes in the wake of four fatalities over the weekend, all of young people under 21.
Martinos Marti, Eirinaios Adamou (both 20) and Nikolas Koutsou (18) died in an accident on the Dherynia to Frenaros road in Famagusta in the early hours of Sunday, around midnight.
Another 20-year-old, Eirini Kontogiorgou, died in Engomi in Nicosia, also on Sunday, around 3am, while riding as a passenger in a small rental vehicle driven by a 20-year-old, with seven young people in total on board.
“Police are waiting to conduct final examinations before offering their conclusions,” police spokesman Giorgos Milis told the CyBC.
In the first accident a 44-year-old driver with his 15-year-old son as passenger, had collided with the car driven by the 20-year-old Adamou in Dherynia under circumstances which are being investigated.
The 44-year-old had been making a right turn into his driveway at the time of the impact and both passengers in that vehicle were wearing seatbelts, Milis said.
The man’s car had been flung against a tree and caught on fire as a result of the impact but both occupants escaped unscathed.
It was not yet possible to provide details on whether the young men in the second vehicle had been wearing seatbelts, he said.
As for the accident in Nicosia, it was evident that no one in the backseat, where Kontogiorgou was seated, could have been wearing seatbelts as the car was overloaded, police said.
The way to prevent such tragedies is though education and a change in culture, ex-traffic police chief Andreas Papa told the CyBC.
“Even though we have been saying the same things for years, parents and others need to impress upon young people that discipline is needed on the road,” Papas, who among other actions campaigns for traffic safety at army camps, said.
“Driving at night is far more dangerous than driving during the day,” he said, “especially in inclement weather,” and young drivers must be made more aware of this.
Additionally, driving under the influence of alcohol needs to be addressed with shared responsibility and passengers being assertive in not permitting drunk friends to drive.
“Road fatalities worldwide show that two thirds are of backseat passengers, which does away with the myth that seat belts are not needed in the back,” he added.
Additional measures that could be taken to curb the fatal accident rates are though insurance companies, which can introduce higher premiums for inexperienced drivers driving after midnight, or laws which forbid novice drivers from transporting others, Papas said.
It must be broadcast that driving at night is two to three times as dangerous as driving during the day for obvious reasons, but also because with fewer vehicles on the road, drivers are likely to drive at increased speeds, he said.
An autopsy is to be carried out on Monday on the bodies of the three young men who died in Famagusta, while the 44-year-old involved will be held in custody until the exact circumstances of the crash are clarified, police said.
Elsewhere, for the Nicosia incident the 20-year-old driver was arrested as per a court warrant and he was held for questioning. The young man had been given an alcotest which registered a 55 mg% instead of the 9 mg% allowed for novice drivers.
