Northern Macedonia’s roads have claimed 62 lives during the first eight months of this year. While it comes to a disturbing number of victims, statistics show remarkable improvement compared to last year when 96 people had lost their lives during the same period in traffic accidents. This represents a reduction of over 35 percent of the number of victims in communications.
This information is released on the eve of the World Day of the Memorial of Highway Accident Victims, which is marked every third Sunday in November. This year, this day is marked on November 15th and aims to recall the tragic consequences of accidents, as well as the importance of measures to increase security in communications.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the improvement of statistics is linked to the Security City system and the transition from repeated checks to continued and predictable monitoring of vehicle speed.
The MPB estimates that systematic speed controls are one of the important instruments for accident prevention and reduced number of victims. However, the data presented is not enough to determine how low the victims are directly attributed to the new control system.
World Day of the Victims of Road Accidents Memorial was initiated in 1993 by the British organization for the support of victims, including the year 2005 The United Nations General Assembly officially recognized him as an international memorial day. The United Nations has targeted half the number of victims and injuries in road accidents by 2030. However, many countries, including the countries of the region, continue to face serious challenges in meeting that goal.
Despite the improvement of statistics in northern Macedonia, 62 lives lost within eight months testify that road safety remains an issue of particular importance for institutions and citizens. The decline in the number of victims is a positive development, but the ultimate goal remains to make fewer families face the loss of their most loved ones on the street.