The Prague Post
September 7th, 2008
Endowment Fund     Business Listings ONLINE      Reservations      Classifieds    Subscriptions
Real Estate Prague Prague Rentals Prague Apartments Prague Art & Antiques

Home » Archives » News

Holiday traffic death toll rises

Radars and shock campaign part of plan to curb accidents

By Kimberly Ashton
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
July 11th, 2007 issue

A year after a tough new traffic law was introduced, holiday road fatalities remain as high as ever.
During last year’s July holiday, days after the new law went into effect, accidents dropped 70 percent, to the lowest number in 18 years. But this past holiday weekend was deadly.
“Now, one year later, people are not afraid [of penalties] anymore,” Karel Hanzelka of the Transportation Ministry said.
According to a European Union report, Czech roads are among the most dangerous on the Continent.
From July 5 to 8, there were 1,239 accidents, according to the nationwide Police Presidium.
Twelve people died and of the 321 who were injured, 39 cases were serious.
Prague and Central Bohemia consistently registered the highest accident rates across the country. There were 136 accidents in Prague and 177 in Central Bohemia. By comparison, last July 8 and 9 only 5 people died in traffic accidents, according to iDnes.cz.
Speeding was, by far, the cause of most of the accidents, according to police numbers. Other factors included drivers not giving the right of way and passing in a wrong lane. Police estimate the cost of overall damages this past weekend is about 64.8 million Kč ($3.1 million).
Since January alone, 485 people have died in car accidents on domestic roads, police say.
The Transportation Ministry announced last month that it plans to deploy more radars on highways, according to the daily Právo. Also to curb this lethal trend, the ministry is starting a graphic campaign.
“We have decided to show blood … TV spots like rescuers cutting somebody out from the car and stuff like that,” Hanzelka said.
“The role of our ministry is to inform people about their behavior on the roads,” and this sort of campaign has been used in Western Europe for years, he said.
“We have to start from the beginning [and] show these spots also to driving school students,” he said. In other words, it’s the culture of driving that needs to be changed.  
“The roads are the mirror of the society,” Hanzelka said. “We Czechs … are not very polite and considerate people. And we drive the same way. But this rudeness, when happening on the roads, has tragic consequences.”
— Hela Balínová contributed to this report.

Kimberly Ashton can be reached at kashton@praguepost.com


Other articles in News (11/07/2007):

Browse the Current Issue

If you enjoyed this article, why don't you subscribe to the print version!
We accept secure online transactions provided by PayPal and Moneybookers

Be the first to add a comment!


Full Name: *
City: *
E-mail: **
This comment can be published in the print version of The Prague Post
Enter the text on the right:
 visual captcha
Comment: *
* Required field. In order to be approved for display, comments must have a first and last name and a city.
** E-mails are required and will only be used for internal purposes.

Most visited in Business Listings

Hotel booking
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.