Kosovo's road safety problem

Road safety is expected to improve with the opening of the new Route 7 highway in Kosovo. Complete accident details were not available for 2011 but there were 94 fatal accidents and 168 killed on Kosovo's roads between January and September 2011, an increase of 8% over the previous year.
April 25, 2012 Read time: 1 min
Road safety is expected to improve with the opening of the new Route 7 highway in Kosovo. Complete accident details were not available for 2011 but there were 94 fatal accidents and 168 killed on Kosovo’s roads between January and September 2011, an increase of 8% over the previous year. The Transport Ministry’s data also showed that in the January-September 2011 period, 3,405 people needed hospital treatment following a total of 14,041 road accidents. Speeding, alcohol use, defective vehicles, poor driver training and dangerous winter conditions were amongst the major factors causing road accidents. The new highway will reduce the traffic density on the country’s existing two lane route, with its many curves, which will reduce the accident rate significantly. The Transport Ministry will also invest in technologies to address speeding, as well as being tougher on enforcement of road rules.

Related Content

  • Road crash risks differ from country to country
    September 24, 2013
    Why is it that some countries have significantly higher risks to road users than others? In developing nations road safety plans can be at early stages of implementation and enforcement may be patchy. In addition, drivers and other road users may be poorly trained, road conditions can be bad and vehicle numbers may vastly exceed network capacity. But in developed countries, the risks of drivers being involved in road crashes can vary widely, even in neighbouring nations. In general, annual road fatality rat
    Read More
  • Safety: 'roads a major factor'
    July 23, 2012
    Road infrastructure has a core role to play in improving road safety and accident statistics often understate this. Marco Mongiello reports Everybody agrees that road safety is a very important issue. In 2006 in the European Union (EU 25) there were 38,400 casualties and 1,700,000 road injuries, with a total cost of E160 billion. For most people there are no doubts: the driver's behaviour is to blame. However, "road infrastructure has a core role to play in improving road safety and this has been recognised
    Read More
  • Cracking down on drug driving
    April 16, 2012
    New laws being established in the UK will crack down on those driving under the influence of illegal drugs. A panel of experts has been appointed by the UK Government to investigate the various issues involved. Existing laws in the UK have been described as inadequate to address the issue, prompting this move. There is a large body of research showing that illegal drug use presents a serious problem to road safety in the UK and other nations. Studies show links between drug use, criminal activity, varying v
    Read More
  • Improved UK road safety required
    July 19, 2012
    Recent increases in road fatalities should be a wake-up call for the UK Government to step up and provide stronger leadership on road safety, say members of parliament in a report examining the Government's Strategic Framework for Road Safety.
    Read More

Highlighted Content