Rhodes: One more traffic accident in Ixia, tourist boy had leg amputated

The summer vacation for a family from Finland on the island of Rhodes ended premature and in horror.  The 10-year-old family child was severely injured in a traffic accident on Friday and had his leg amputated. The family was crossing  the main road of Ixia, when a motorcycles dragged away the boy. The family was reportedly walking on the zebra crossing.

According to KTG information, the accident was the result of a sequence of another accident and the irresponsible behavor of at least three drivers. Aa taxi illegally stopped at a bus stop, a jeep hit the taxi from behind. While this was going on, the family tried to cross the street, then the motorcycle driver comes from behind, overtakes the taxi and the jeep and hits the boy.

According to local media, the boy’s leg had to be amputated on the spot of the accident.

The boy had to be transferred to a hospital in Athens where it remains still on Sunday.

State broadcaster ERT reported earlier today that the family wants to have their child transported to Finland but the doctors want to wait for his health stabilization.

End of June, a 24-year-old German tourist lost her life on the same road just a few meters away from the accident with the Finnish boy.

The young woman was the victim of a similar accident: she was dragged by a motorcycle while she was walking on the Rhodes-Kameiros on a Friday night. She died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

Locals have many times complaint about the motorists’ behavior in the area, one of the most popular seaside resort villages on Rhodes.

A message KTG received right after the fatal accident with the German tourist read:

“I live in Ixia.. Drive this road every day, 2 times, minimum…. Speeding cars, motorbikers thinking its the Le Man…. Tourists running back and forth, like shooting ducks, trying to get over the road… To top it up, in the evening, due to the dim lighting in that area, it can be so so difficult to see if anyone is crossing the street….” by Tina Amelie Christoffersen.

Shocking data

According to local newspaper rodiaki traffic accidents have rapidly increased on the roads of Rhodes in recent times. they occur on a daily basis. According to official data: 5 five people have died, 9  were seriously and 69 slightly injured in a total of 59 road accidents in the last couple of months.

“Unfortunately, the situation seems to have gone out of control, causing “headaches” to authorities but also concerns to citizens, rodiaki notes adding that “the human factor plays an important role to the traffic accidents, as not a few involve only one vehicle and the driver’s responsibility.”

Main cause for the road accidents are reportedly : high speed, driver’s distraction, priority violation, driving under alcohol influence, driving on wrong lane, and for motorcyclists driving without helmet and protective belt.

The Zebra Crossings

Another thing that foreign tourists do not know is that Greek motorists consider “zebra crossing lines” on the streets as part of some kind of peculiar decoration aiming to send mysterious signals to outer space.

You can’t imagine how long I do have to wait at the end of zebra marking to cross the main street of our neighborhood in one of the suburbs of Athens. Together with me are often, mothers with children, seniors with walking stocks and elderly women heavily loaded with supermarket shopping.

One after the other the cars keep passing on both lanes, nobody stops.

What the hell do motorists think all these people are waiting for under the boiling sun?

When the zebra marking was painted on the streets some 8-10 years ago, motorists would stop more often. But now the paint has faded quite a bit, yet it is still clearly visible.

I must say, in summer the situation is a bit better, because the windows of the cars are often  down so drivers can hear me shouting “Zebra Crossing!” or “Here is a zoo!” – even at risk to gain a reputation as the weirdo of the area….