‘Authorities’ in the north are becoming increasingly concerned over a spike in road deaths, which has led to 20 people dying in the first five months of 2023, it emerged on Saturday.
According to Kibris Postasi, throughout all of 2022, there were 21 accidents, with 24 people dead.
Just in the first five months of this year, there were 20 read deaths and 20 people who died as a result, the ‘police chief’ said in a press conference.
The primary cause of the accidents is speeding, drunk driving and carelessness while behind the wheel.
Providing a breakdown of the numbers, of the 20 that died this year, 12 were Turkish Cypriots, five were in the north for work, two were tourists – one from Britain and one from Romania. Another victim was a Cameroonian student studying in the north.
Between January and May there were 1,674 accidents on the road. Of those, 1,456 led to only material damage while in 198 accidents there were also injuries – resulting in 263 hurt individuals.
The paper reported that Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar last week also raised his concern over the number of accidents, saying road deaths were four times higher than EU countries, referring to a need for taking immediate measures.