Grappling with aftermath of deadly weekend

An emergency session held by police highlighted measures to help prevent road fatalities, as post mortem results released in Nicosia and Limassol pinpointed to the exact cause of death in three deadly accidents over the weekend.

Deputies and district administrators met on Monday at police headquarters in the capital on Monday following three violent road fatalities over the weekend.

In the meeting, according to local media, a number of measures were examined including traffic lights, increasing traffic violation penalties, intensifying police campaigns, and working with agencies and groups to raise road safety awareness among members of the public.

An earlier statement by police said the list of road accident victims was getting longer and called on motorists to change their mindset and choose defencive driving at all times.

“The hundreds of traffic citations being issued every day may be unpopular with members of the public, but they are meant to convince drivers, at least out of fear of getting a ticket, to comply with traffic regulations,” the statement said.

While the emergency meeting was taking place, three post mortems were being conducted on the victims of the deadly weekend.

In the first accident, 75-year-old Savvas Charalambous was killed following a car pileup accident in Limassol district on Saturday night.

A post mortem conducted by state forensic pathologist Nicholas Charalambous showed multiple traffic-related injuries following a road accident. Police did not provide exact details about the crash except to say the multi-vehicle collision was brutal and violent, involving cars that rotated, overturned, or ended up in a ditch.

In the second road accident, 24-year-old Bruk Christodoulou was fatally injured in a traffic accident in Latchia, Nicosia district, on Saturday night just hours after the first fatality in Limassol.

Christodoulou was riding his motorcycle around 11:30pm when he collided with a vehicle driven by a 30-year-old woman. He was rushed to the Emergency Room and succumbed to his injuries at 2:50 Sunday morning. The post mortem conducted by state forensic pathologist Sofocles Sofocleous showed multiple traffic-related injuries following a road accident.

Reports said Christodoulou, who was just two short months away from becoming a father, had uploaded a photo of h is motorcycle at a gas station in the area just eight minutes before the deadly collision.

In the third accident of the deadly weekend, in Lania on Sunday afternoon in Limassol distrcit, 71-year-old Costas Petrou Garpozis was killed after his vehicle plunged off a cliff some 50 metres deep.

Earlier reports said the driver was believed to have lost control of the steering wheel. His 84-year-old wife, who was hospitalized with a fracture of the sternum, was said to be out of danger and in need of surgery.

A post mortem conducted on Monday by state forensic pathologist Nicholas Charalambous revealed that Garpozis had suffered a heart attack.

29 fatalities so far this year

According to Kathimerini Cyprus, there was intense discussion and brainstorming during the police meeting on Monday, with law enforcement officials visibly frustrated over their efforts to minimize or prevent road fatalities.

It was also mentioned that more traffic police officers should be patrolling the streets to make police have a stronger presence on the road.

In 2019, there were 29 deadly collisions with 29 fatalities recorded from January 1 through August 26, according to official figures.