Current data for the year 2025 show an encouraging decrease in fatal road accidents in Crete, it was stated at a road safety event held on Tuesday 14th October at the Mikis Theodorakis Theatre in Chania, as part of a series organised by the EKO group of petrol stations.
President of the Voluntary Association for the Prevention of Accidents Giannis Lionakis began by expressing his satisfaction that the same morning in Chania he had not seen any motorcyclist without a crash helmet, while by comparison with the same period last year there have been 13 fewer deaths on the road: 7 this year as against 20 last year. He then suggested that with the death of Panagiotis Karatzis,* policing attitudes both locally and nationally changed. “The Hellenic Police were given a jolt, and so were the citizens,” he said. “We can get there if we want to!”
Next, Takis Pournarakis, president of Motorsport Greece, while expressing his congratulations to all those who have contributed to the reduction of accidents in Crete, stressed that road safety can be achieved with the simplest of methods: “If we observe speed limits, always wear a seat belt or a crash helmet, don’t drive under the influence of alcohol and keep our eyes on the road instead of our mobile.”
Champion para-athlete Antonis Tsapatakis speaks at the EKO road safety event in Chania. Born and raised in Chania, he was already a prizewinning swimmer and water polo player from the age of 12 with the Nautical Club of Chania. In 2006, while a police cadet, he lost control of his motorbike through excessive speed and became paralysed in his lower body. Three years later he began swimming again with a local club for the disabled “to satisfy my need for independence”. (Wikipedia).
The image on the screen behind him shows the American musician Pharell Williams saying: “Don’t text while you drive”. Photo: EKO/Facebook.
Also present at the discussion was Chania MP and Deputy Immigration Minister Sevi Voloudaki, who emphasised that “road safety means safe streets, and that is our responsibility, the State’s responsibility, [to provide] a modern and safe motorway. For the first time we have a specific funding mechanism and works with a specific time-frame for which we know when they will begin and where and how they will continue.
“The second and more important factor is drivers’ behaviour. Not drinking, particularly as regards young people, and obeying the Highway Code, and beyond that it’s the responsibility of the traffic police to keep those behaviours within the bounds of the law. In addition we as parents and teachers need to teach young kids who are just getting their licence, who go out on the streets and have fun until late! Let’s pass on the message: ‘Driving safely means saving my life and the life of others.'”
Asked about the complaints of many citizens that the fines under the new Highway Code are a means of bringing in tax revenue, the deputy minister replied, “the Highway Code may have severe fines, but it certainly has specific measurable results which show that there has been a great reduction in fatal accidents. So if we only have the benefit that one life has been saved, it means that something good is happening with the new Code.”
When the speakers were asked what errors they commit themselves when driving, Ms Voloudaki said: “Since when I am driving I am either alone or have the children in the back, I don’t want to have my attention distracted by the phone so I put it on vibrate and leave it beside me. When I hear it vibrating, I have to admit that it distracts my attention and I either look at it to see who it is, or pick it up to see who it is.”
Deputy mayor of Chania Tasos Aloglou praised EKO for their initiative, saying that it gives a “positive impression”, while paralympian Antonis Tsapatakis observed that “what Greek drivers are lacking is education, they don’t understand the importance of road safety”.
(Haniotika Nea, 17/10.25)
*The 22-year-old who was killed in a head-on collision with a drunken Porsche driver on the Souda Road in January of this year.