Road traffic accidents in Greece: have we benefited from the financial crisis?

According to WHO, road traffic injuries are the eighth leading cause of death globally, and the leading cause of death among young people aged 15–29 years. Data from the European Road Safety Observatory in 2011 suggest that road traffic accidents in the member countries of the European Union (EU) annually claim around 34 000 lives and cause more than 1.1 million injuries, representing an estimated cost of 140 billion euros. Greece was second in the EU with 187 deaths/one million inhabitants in 2000, and kept its place with 129 deaths in 2009 (second only to Romania). Things, however, seem to have changed in the last three years. In light of the major financial crisis taking place in Greece since the final quarter of 2008, we sought to investigate the impact of this crisis on the incidence of road traffic accidents, injuries and deaths. Consistent with previous reports, deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents are falling steeply in Greece with drivers switching to cheaper ways of transport or reducing their travel. Since the beginning of the crisis, Attiki Odos (one of the main road networks of the Athens metropolitan area) is estimated to have lost one-third of its circulation. On average, daily transits were 307 000 in 2009, 250 000 in 2011 and 216 000 in 2012 (data from Attiki Odos; http://www. aodos.gr/). Road traffic accidents for the country as a whole, fell from 13 577 in 2008 to 12 187 in 2012 (10.2% decrease). Serious road traffic injuries also fell substantially, from 1886 in 2008 to 1443 in 2012 (23.5% decrease), and the same was true for fatalities decreasing from 1550 in 2008 to 976 in 2012 (37% decrease) (all data from the Hellenic Police; http://www. astynomia.gr). There is an urgent need for strengthening of public health measures in order to sustain the positive effect of the Greek financial crisis on road safety in the long term, when the economy will start growing and vehicles will start moving on the roads again.