Deadly traffic accidents in Greece are at alarming rate in the last few years. 665 people were killed on the spot in 2024, due to irresponsible driving.
The story below is this is the epitome of reckless behavior on the road over the past weekend: A 22-year-old woman was driving her car together with two friends in the early morning hours of Sunday, March 16. She drives at high speed, ignores the red traffic light at a crossing and crashes with force on the side of a taxi on Thivon Avenue in Peristeri suburb of western Athens. Following the collision, her car crash on a power pole.
The 47-year-old taxi driver dies on the spot.
The young woman and her two 24-year-old friends suffer injures and fractures and are taken to hospital.
An test shows she has 3 times more alcohol in her blood than the allowed average.
Still on Monday she remains hospitalized under police guard. Among the charges she faces are several traffic code violations and the killing of the cab driver “without intention.”
Deadly traffic “accidents” are daily in Greece nowadays reckless drivers grabbing the steering wheel and speed up as if there is no tomorrow. They crash on other vehicles, on walls and power poles, get off the road, they drag pedestrians to death or they are dead themselves.
Traffic accidents have increased at an alarming rate in the last couple of years.
According to Statistics Authority ELSTAT, Greece set a five-year record for traffic deaths in 2024, with 665 deaths. The 665 are people who died on the spot and not those who succumbed to their injuries at a later point.
In the first week of March 2025 and over a period of five days, 8 people lost their lives in traffic crashes in Attica alone. A total of 12 people lost their life on the roads in the period March 1 to 18.
In January 2025, eight people lost their lives and 433 were injured – of which seven were serious and 426 were minor injured – in a total of 393 traffic accidents and incidents that occurred in Attica.
Driving under the influence of alcohol, speeding and neglecting to use basic safety measures continue to cost human lives. According to data from the Greek Police, the main causes of traffic incidents were careless driving, violation of regulatory signs and incorrect handling of pedestrians.
Who are the most careful drivers and those who cause the fewest accidents, the youngest or the oldest?
Drivers aged 20-30 were the ones who had the highest accident rate in 2022 with a rate of 19.3%, followed by drivers aged 30-40 with a rate of 13.4%, data from insurance company Hellas Direct for 2022 have shown.
In contrast, drivers aged 70-80 appear to be particularly careful while driving and their participation in accidents is limited to a rate of 9.2%.
The ages of 40-50, but also those of 50-60 have a participation in accidents by 11.5%, for the rate to drop to 10.8% for drivers aged 60-70. Finally, the rates are low for drivers aged 80 and over with a rate of 10.6%.
PS I was almost to be killed right there outside my home three months ago, when I set foot to cross our quiet neighborhood street in a still dark late November morning. I had exited our building entrance door and made a few steps when I was a van and a small car passing by like crazy. I was at the pavement setting a foot on the road when I heard the loud sound of the wheels of a third car coming from the corner, some 50 meters away. I jumped back to the pavement and shouted very loud – leaving aside my good lady-like manners: Ναι, ρε μαλάκα, τρέχα! (Right, you jerk, run!). The car stopped and I got on the cab waiting for me, with the driver laughing loud. “You told him right, madame!” he said.
give the instructor 150euro and you have a driving license
I think three factors contribute to the accident rate in a big way.
1 Learners do not really receive the length of instruction they are obliged to do by law. An instructor will take 3 or 4 pupils on a one hour lesson. Each one will get ten to fifteen minutes of actual driving but it counts as one hour.
2 Bribing the tester to pass a learner when they have really failed the test is not uncommon, although I am told this is highly variable between test centres. Not all testers are corrupt but the driving schools tend to know which ones are.
3 If I am behind a csr that I would like to overtak and there is a car coming in the opposite direction I will wait, because I was taught to assume every other driver is out to kill me. A Greek driver will simply overtake assuming that the oncoming car will see him and pull over to make room. Your life in their hands.
Come to Serbia. The way people drive, especially on the highway, is not normal. They are pushing, sitting on your bumper, signaling you, blinding you, passing on the emergency lane or just throw their cars in front of you.
In Greece, it can be crazy in the cities, especially with the motorscooters and also that road to and from North Macedonia is crazy but people in Greece are rarely pushing you on the highway. In North Macedonia they also drive crazy.