Three people die each year on Cyprus roads in work-related crashes, accounting for 8% of road deaths over the past three years, according to a new European road safety report released today.
The victims were mostly food delivery riders or lorry drivers and drivers of other goods transport vehicles, according to data provided by Giorgos Morfakis, Cyprus’s representative to the Road Safety PIN programme.
The figures are included in the 49th report of the Road Safety PIN programme by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), which presents data on work-related road deaths and serious injuries across 27 EU member states plus Switzerland, Israel, Norway, Serbia and the United Kingdom.
The report notes that because there is no common definition for work-related road crashes, the exact number of road victims cannot be determined.
Data from 16 European states showed that 30% to 40% of total road deaths are work-related. Based on this, annual work-related road deaths in the EU likely amount to 6,000 to 8,000.
Ten states participating in the PIN programme do not yet have a national definition for work-related road crashes, including Cyprus, the report found.
In 16 states participating in PIN, including Cyprus, there is no field in the police form collecting road crash data for the purpose of travel.
However, Cyprus responds positively, along with 18 other states, regarding the legal obligations of employers and the self-employed. Cyprus also responds positively with 10 other states regarding state procedures for purchasing, leasing and renting vehicles.
Given the lack of coordinated action and large gaps in efforts, the ETSC judges that the problem of work-related road deaths and serious injuries is not receiving due importance from the EU and member state governments.
The ETSC made a series of recommendations, including the adoption of a national definition of work-related road crashes within the road safety field covering road deaths and serious injuries among professional road users and workers on the road network, commuters to and from work, and third parties.
Other recommendations include collecting and analysing comprehensive data on the number of road deaths and serious injuries annually, creating a system linking data from coroners’ reports, health and safety at work reports and road safety services to establish the true picture of work-related road crash deaths, imposing an obligation on employers to adopt the Safe System approach in their work-related road safety activities, and supporting and encouraging employers in meeting requirements to conduct work-related road risk assessments.
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