Mobile phones third most frequent cause of road traffic accidents

By using mobile phones while driving without hands-free devices drivers risk their own safety and life, as well as the lives of other participants in traffic, it was said at a news conference held at the end of the campaign, organised for the sixth consecutive years.

The campaign, called "A Day Without Mobile Phones in Traffic", is aimed at raising awareness of the dangers of using mobile phones while driving a car or riding a bicycle or a motorcycle.

The head of the Croatian Association of Security Managers, Alen Ostojić, called on drivers to think about whether they really need to use mobile phones while driving "because unlike mobile phones, there are no spare parts for human life."

Miron Huljak, an advisor at the Police Directorate, pointed to the lack of systematic education about traffic security from an early age.

He said that in the first ten months of this year there was a 10% drop in the number of road deaths and a drop in the number of road accidents with fatalities of close to 13%.

However, there was an increase of some 10% in the number of casualties with light injuries and of some 4% in the number of seriously injured casualties, with a simultaneous strong increase in traffic volume, notably during the tourist season, he said.

The police, as the stakeholder in charge of implementing the National Road Safety Plan, have been helping create synergy between all those whose duty it is to contribute to road safety, including the Croatian Association of Security Managers, Huljak said.