A hundred wheelchairs were placed in Zagreb's main square on Monday displaying messages by people who have become disabled as a result of traffic accidents.

The wheelchairs were placed as part of a police campaign marking National Road Safety Day, symbolising the annual average of one hundred people becoming confined to a wheelchair after a road accident, the head of the Road Safety Service, Josip Mataija, said.

Statistics show that around 15,650 people are injured in traffic accidents in Croatia annually. Of them, 79.4 percent suffer light injuries, 18.4 percent serious injuries, while 2.2 percent of people involved in traffic accidents are killed, which is an annual average of 351 people.

Mataija said that, compared to last year, all statistical indicators of road casualties had declined this year, with the number of road fatalities decreasing by 28 persons.

“Last year was basically the best year in terms of road safety in the last 60 years since we have been systematically tracking road safety,” he said.

On Wednesday, police will be handing out leaflets at ten locations to raise public awareness of the four main road killers in Croatia – drunk driving, using a mobile phone while driving, not wearing a seat belt, and speeding.