Frequent bus accidents from Kosovo, which may be the causes of their roll

On May 19th, eight passengers have been injured when the Kosovo license bus, with which they traveled, has been crashed on a highway near Eugendorf in Austria.

Radio Free Europe has contacted the company “Armend Tours”, which belonged to the bus, but it has not responded.

The REL has not responded to additional information as well as the Kosovo Foreign Ministry.

Less than a year ago, ten people have died and dozens more have been injured in another bus accident, which occurred in Croatia's Slavonski Brod.

“ Muhamed Krasniqi, director of the Temple College in Pristina and expert on communications issues.

In some cases, there has been suspicion that drivers are asleep what has led to their loss of control of vehicles.

Three drivers for remote destinations

Sinan Karaddyaj is the manager at a transportation company in Kosovo, offering bus trips to various European states.

He says drivers should be well prepared both physically and psychologically.

He says that “not all companies respect the rules” of road transport to distant destinations.

To be a driver, you have to be prepared for this job, but today everyone is being a driver, without meeting the criteria. Likewise, competition... To save 100,200 euros some companies for example. They don't take three drivers to Germany”, Karaddy says.

In the management company, he says it never happens that buses leave for distant destinations without three drivers.

The long - distance driver's clock is regulated by the Law for Road Transport. Under this law, the length of daily driving should not exceed the 9 hours. It can be fully extended to ten hours, but no more than twice during the week.

After driving for four and a half hours, the driver gets a constant pause of at least 45 minutes, unless he uses firing”, it is also said in the law.

After the accident in Croatia in July last year, Radio Free Europe has talked to a driver who has been driving buses from Kosovo to various European states.

Seeking to remain anonymous, the driver has said that he has been running the bus over and over again.

We were only two drivers. The road is very difficult, and what makes it even more difficult is waiting on boundaries. When you wait up to five or six hours at a border point, then you automatically get extra fatigue”, he said.

According to data from the bus station in Pristina, 18,195 international departures have been realised during 2021 towards Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and other countries.

Curtisji: Relevation required

From the Kosovo Road Transport Association vows that, after the recent accident in Austria, they will hold a meeting with road transport companies, with the goal of increasing responsibility.

The chairman of this association, Ruzhdi Kurtishay, says that not preparing drivers can only be a cause of accidents.

“Axident does not mean that it causes the human factor or technical factors, may also be other participants in communications, there are the atmosphere conditions”, he says.

The road has its own problems, accidents happen anywhere in the world. Like Kosovo, we are preparing, as well as Quadro”, adds Curtisaj.

Praise Shatri, director of the Ministry of Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure Department in Kosovo, says that in the field of road transport, Kosovo is equal to European Union countries both legislative and technological.

He does not want to comment on the recent accident in Austria, saying the case should be investigated and accurately known its reasons.

As far as technical controls are concerned, he states that Kosovo stands well and that buses are obliged to conduct these controls every six months.

The Ministry of Environment in Kosovo has more than 130 vehicle technical control centres licensed.

Three types of technical checkups are conducted in these centers: regular annual inspections for all vehicles; periodic inspections for all commercial vehicles, including heavy - weightd vehicles, such as buses, and extraordinary inspections, performed by traffic police or other responsible persons.

Fatal bus accidents from Kosovo

In July 2002, ten people have lost their lives, including two children, when a bus from Kosovo has been hit in Montenegro.

The bus with 40 travelers has been traveling from Ulcinj to Kosovo, when it has left the road and fell down a hill. The accident occurred around 05 a.m.

In October 2004, because of the accident of a bus in Albania, 15 seniors from Kosovo have lost their lives. Tens of others have been hurt, some of them hard.

Nearly six years later, in February 2010, six people from Kosovo have died when the bus traveling to Germany was accident near Vienna. The bus has crashed into two trucks near the Austrian capital.

In the July 25th accident, 2021, in Croatia, except for ten victims, more than 40 people have been injured. This accident occurred at 0600 in the morning.