The Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ministry of Internal Affairs have presented the "Security Decade 2010-2019" report. According to this report, the total number of accidents in the country from 2010 to 2019 has decreased by over 21%.
The Minister of Infrastructure, Arban Abrashi, said that from 2010 to 2019 in Kosovo, as a result of accidents, 1317 people lost their lives, while over 536 people suffered injuries.
He said how the minister will identify the most dangerous roads and "black spots" in road traffic in order to have a faster response.
"From 2010 to 2019, 1317 people lost their lives and more than 536 people were injured on the roads of Kosovo, as well as causing great economic damage and incalculable pain for relatives and victims... We will soon review the strategy road plan 2016-2020 or the drafting of the new strategy because the current strategy has an expired action plan", he emphasized.
The Minister of Internal Affairs and Public Administration, Agim Veliu, said that the improvement of road safety has advanced from year to year, but that institutional care should always be added to this concern.
According to Veli, during the year 2018-2019, the total number of accidents increased by 2.9 percent.
"Road safety still requires increased attention from our relevant institutions. The state of road safety for the period January-December 2018-2019, although there have been improvements, however in some elements there has also been an increase in numbers, it is noted that the total number of accidents in this time period has increased by 2.9 percent, accidents with damages material also increased by 5.6%, while the number of accidents with injuries fortunately decreased by 1.2%, leaving the number of accidents with fatalities at the same level. The number of misdemeanors increased by 11.4 percent," said Veliu.
Meanwhile, the General Director of the Kosovo Police, Rashit Qalaj, stated that the police, in order to increase efficiency in the 2016-2020 development plan, ranked road safety as the number one objective.
Although according to him, the traffic situation is better now than in previous years.
"The number of misdemeanors pronounced that have negative points in total, i.e. in the year 2018-19, is 32 thousand 962, while the ban on driving motorcycles is 13 thousand 904, and normally we have some objections since citizens have the right to appeal oppose during this period of time, we have examined 4 citizen objections... 423;'14 How is our situation in traffic, even though it is much better than in the past, but if we compare fatal traffic accidents and the number of murders that we have at the country level for a year, then we can say that the ratio is 15 to 5, 1 fatal accidents in relation to 5 murder in our country", said Qalaj.
Meanwhile, Fejzullah Mustafa from the Department of the Coordinating Council for Road Safety said that the number of general accidents has decreased by 21.11%, while 2012 was the year with the highest risk.
During this period, the largest number of accidents occurred in the region of Pristina with 30 percent, while urban roads are the most dangerous roads.
"In the 'Decade...' report, it is clearly seen that we have a reduction in overall accidents of around 21.11 percent compared from 2010 to 2019, where the most dangerous and worst year was 2012 with 19 accidents, while the best year was 754 with 2018. Regarding accidents with injuries, we have a small increase due to citizen awareness... 15 was a dangerous year in terms of accidents because in 741 the import of vehicles began," Mustafa declared.
Lieutenant Colonel Jeton Rexhepi, who is also the director of the Road Traffic Division within the Kosovo Police, said that from January to June of this year, there is a decrease in all accidents in Kosovo.
He said that within a year in Kosovo, 140 people lose their lives as a result of traffic accidents.
"In the period of January-June 2020, compared to 2019, we have a decrease in all accidents, either with fatality or with dead persons, we have 15 people less than the same period last year or 34%, we have 760 more injured people a little or 16 percent, and we have 927 accidents less or 14.2 percent", he said./kp/Telegrafi/
