Lithuania has been at the top of the list of road fatalities in Europe during the past decade.
VILNIUS — Lithuanian road fatalities, perennially one of the highest in Europe, decreased by 26 percent in 2009 according to the Ministry of Transport and Communication.
The total amount of deaths caused by road accidents last year was 368, down 499 from 2008. Likewise the amount of injuries dropped to 4,484 from 5,818 the previous year.
Transport minister Eligijus Masiulis points to government measures as helping reduce the total.
“Measures have been taken in the form of increased road safety, active police work and educational campaigns through the media,” Masiulis said. “For us, every human life must be preserved, so we will continue the ongoing work in the field of traffic safety, we will seek new ways and means to raise people’s own consciousness and responsibility.”
The commonplace bribing of traffic police, lack of seatbelt use and an aggressive driving culture after decades of low levels of car ownership under the Soviet Union has made for a dangerous combination for motorists in the largest Baltic state.
Is Lithuania really “notorious in Europe” for its driving? In my experience, most other Europeans don’t even know where Lithuania is, let alone have any inkling that its motorists might not be the best on the continent.
Good news finally about road safety in Lithuania. It came to a level where it got unbearable. I did notice that safety standards have increased at many main roads, there are dozens of new roundabouts built at some of the most dangerous level intersections and people may also have become more conscious about driving and their responsibilities on the road. Good job and let’s keep it on.
the problem with LT driving or driving in LT is:
1.that most people drive without any respect towards others, they dont care, they only think of themselves. It happened to me several times that someone parked his car behind mine in places not ment to so that I couldnt leave. Also parking on pedestrian crossings, on cycling roads, fire exists etc make traffice more dangerous. The selfishness on the streets causes a lot of dangerous situations and of course acccidents. There are rules and not who has the bigger car. Even abroad a lithuanian driver set his car in front of mine and reduced speed— just because I wasnt fast enough passing by another car with already 10 km/h more than allowed.
(However I have to say it got better the last years and drivers became more nice to each other)
2. A car has mirrors and that means 3 of them. My future wife told me that in her drivers license classes she wasn’t teached that she had to look into them, or that she needs to adjust them. A lot of drivers in LT are not able to use them on the road and while parking. Also training parking and driving only on training grounds isnt enough to make feel future drivers save on the streets.
3. One major part are pedestrians and cyclist on country roads or even highways. It happens to me a lot, that I am shocked by beeing surprised by black somethings on the side of streets. People wearing black without any kind of reflectors. Thats dangerous and leaves drivers sometimes without much time to react.
In Germany died about 4050 people in 2009. However transit and traffic on German roads is a bit more intense.Consindering that in Germany live 25times as many people than in LT one can see that the number of deads on the streets in LT is quite high.
If people think that driving is bad in Lithuania, they should try crossing the road in Russia, Armenia or Georgia. A Russian friend, on a visit to Lithuania, was surprised that cars stopped at zebra crossings….
european,
I guess the mirror thingie depends on the instructor. It was one of the things my driving instructor taught me to do from the first day. He wouldn’t let me go until I proved to him that I know how to use the mirrors (i.e. not just to look at them but actually use them while parking and driving). And guess what, I can park swiftly and easily without any assistance by using the mirror and knowing how the whole thing works (my mother cannot even though she’s been driving for over 30 years now). I got my license 8 years ago. I’m still thankful to the guy who was teaching me because he was extremely demanding and strict with me despite himself being a typical ‘rough’ Lithuanian from the countryside.