CYPRUS yesterday launched what was described as the biggest road safety campaign in the eastern Mediterranean involving the printing of over a million leaflets aimed at locals and tourists.The leaflets in several languages explaining the island’s traffic codes, will be placed in planes, ships, rental cars, hotels and tourist resortsThere will also be televised spots on planes and ships, offering tourists some useful information on Cyprus’ traffic network – such as, the allowable alcohol limits, speed limits and legal obligation to wear seatbelts; for front seat as well as backseat passengers. The campaign is called Grand Road Safety Project 001.
While I applaud the effort and the breadth of this campaign, I think there is a single issue that, if addressed, will significantly increase the road safety on this island – driving license exam. Reading through a twenty-something pages of “How to pass a driving license exam” and spending as little as 12 hours on the public roads with instructor should not be enough to get the driving license. There are so many everyday situations that aren’t even mentioned in the book – no surprise people have no clue how drive when it comes to it.