TIRANA, July 27ؒoad accidents are the main cause of death in Albania. With an average of one dead and two injured per day, accidents move right at the top of the list of human tragedies. An alarming rate that puts Albania far ahead of the rest of the region and has brought the authorities to undertake an awareness campaign in order to educate drivers and pedestrians – the latter making up 40% of all road accidents – about the importance of respecting road signs.
According to a study made by the Institute of Public Health (IPH), only 19% of students put on the safety belt when they are in a car, driving or as passengers. Elements of road safety must be integrated in various high school disciplines, but also in universities, recommend many IPH specialists. Such recommendations were made after the completion of a study evaluating the driving related knowledge, the road approach and practices applied by students in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Tirana, regarding safe driving. The study included 233 females and 77 males.
The study concluded that there is a high level of risky behavior involving students regarding road safety, independently of the level of knowledge. Even though only 19% of students practice the use of seat belts while in a car, 67% of them answered that they were well informed on road regulations whether from a pedestrian’s, a passenger’s, or a driver’s perspective.
Male students were also the most dangerous drivers. They scored worse than females in almost all categories such the use of the seat belt and the respecting of traffic lights.
Not only accidents are expensive in terms of the toll they take on human lives, they are also costly in terms of financial costs. Accidents cost Albania around 60 million euro per year, a study by infrastructure expert Sokol Kikino reveals.
According to the study, Albania ranks second in Europe only to Georgia and Bosnia & Herzegovina regarding deadly accidents. The country has about 320,000 motor vehicles of one kind or another, the use of which amounts to 1000 accidents per year. Average deaths per year from road accidents register a horrible 350 lives lost, or one every day.
Albanian police charge Albanian drivers with 600,000 tickets per year. That’s close to 2 fines per motor vehicle per year. The government, other than the money from driving fines, collects around 118 million euro per year in gasoline tax. Yet only 1 million euro per year is spent for road safety.
