Skip to main content

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

  • Political agreement for highway connecting Serbia, Kosovo and Albania
    June 4, 2015
    A thawing of political relations between Serbia and Kosovo and Albania is resulting in progress with regard to transportation.
  • Greater risk to pedestrians from safer cars?
    March 11, 2016
    A new study the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) in the US reveals that pedestrian deaths are increasing. The study is based on preliminary data from the State Highway Safety Offices. Following adjustments to that data for underreporting, the GHSA study estimates that pedestrian deaths increased 10% in the first half of 2015 compared with the previous year. Even without the adjustment, pedestrian deaths were still 6% greater, at 2,368 for 2015 than 2014.
  • Improving safety for vulnerable road users
    January 2, 2013
    Dutch-style cycle safety for other European nations – Mike Woof writes A recent event held in London during October was aimed at improving safety for vulnerable road users. Called Love London go Dutch, the event was intended to highlight some of the experience from Holland in reducing risk rates for vulnerable road users such as cyclists. Similar events were held in other UK cities, while other major European cities such as Paris that are seeing an increase in cycling also have a lot to learn from Dutch exp
  • Concern at France’s crash rate
    September 14, 2015
    Concern is being expressed in France at the increase in the country’s road fatality rate. Data shows that for August 2015, the number of people killed on roads in the country rose 9.5% compared to August 2014. This increase in road fatalities continues the worrying trend seen earlier in the year. During the first eight months of 2015, the number of people killed on French roads was 2,253, an increase of 99 over the same period in 2014. This increase in the death rate comes after several year of reducing the