Road traffic, among the greatest threats to citizens' lives

According to regular police reports released after accidents, as well as communications experts, the most frequent causes leading to accidents are disrespect for signs of communication, the failure to drive with road conditions and weather conditions, and the use of telephones during driving.

During 2019, according to the Kosovo Police, although more has been pronounced than 400 thousand tickets Or fines, there have been about 15 thousand accidents, resulting in which at least 100 people have lost their lives.

Despite Number Of the more than 400,000 fines pronounced, citizens think Kosovo Police are not being so efficient with the precautionary enterprise.

Meriton Salihu of Pristina, says both drivers and pedestrians should be careful, since, he says, year-on-year the same number of deaths in communications are being repeated.

I, as a citizen, think that the use of telephones while driving, that I happen to see most frequently, as well as the high speed, are the ones that most often cause accidents. But I also think pedestrians, because they're not rare cases hit by cars, they should be careful before they cross the street. As for the police, I don't know what to say, I rarely see them in communications, not to say” at all, he says.

But, Daut Hoxha, spokesman at the Kosovo Police, says carelessness, insufficient concentration and over-speed, remain among the causes of road accidents resulting in the loss of people's lives. Therefore, he says, drivers are the main carriers of responsibilities while participating in traffic.

Until this period of the year in our country has cost more than 100 people their lives, as a result of neglect in driving vehicles or in any other form of participation in traffic, Kosovo Police He estimates that it is necessary to have an even greater inter-institute commitment, and active action should be undertaken consistently to create more favourable circumstances for the number of accidents, in particular fatal ones, to be reduced further”, Hoxha points out.

Communications expert Nol Deda tells Radio Free Europe that state authorities in Kosovo have not established specific sectors, which will be tested and preventing communications accidents.

Kosovo has no institute, no agencies Road safetyThere's no institute that would deal with the investigation of accidents, factors and elements, no preventative measures. I don't see the preventative measures that are being taken, except the police on the streets, stop vehicles and condemn them in case of a high-speed loss of”, says Deda.

Emergency Clinic Director at the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo Basri Lenyan suggests that during 2019 there has been an increase in the number of patients who have sought medical assistance as a result of traffic accidents.

“Clinic Emergency has accepted thousands of citizens involved. All cases brought by other cities, due to the lack of medical experts there, require services at KKUK, respectively. So we had a growing number of patients. If last year compared to this year, the number has been higher, but what sets it apart last year from this year is that there are fewer deaths in the Emergency Clinic of people who have been killed”, Lenyan explains.

The National Institute of Public Health has been calling the situation in communications alarming and the large number of accidents. According to this institute, so far very little has been undertaken in preventing Accidents, stressing that the <x0] citizens of the Republic of Kosovo are threatened by road traffic accidents, and especially worry that the victim includes children”.

Even the National Auditing Office during the presentation of the performance report "Security in Road Traffic" has found that traffic safety poses one of the biggest problems currently.