Sitting in a kafenion in Pano Gouves, a wise old man, witnessing car after car speeding by on the narrow village road, looked at his companion and said: "You know, a Cretan is never in a hurry until he gets behind the wheel of a car."

That profound statement would border on being humorous if it were not for the deadly connotation that comes from reading between the lines – such as speeding, overtaking on a curve and riding just inches from the car in front at high speeds.

Recent statistics show that over 80 percent of traffic-accident deaths occur right on the spot and that Greece and mainly Crete occupies one of the first positions on the European list of countries with the most traffic accidents, according to Iraklion MP Vasilis Kegeroglou.

Further data reveals that in the last six years there is a road accident on the streets of Crete with one dead and one seriously injured every three days, and one person lightly wounded every day.  And on a national level, each year 1,650 Greeks lose their lives on the road, 2,500 are seriously wounded and 13,500 lightly wounded.

When considering the number of persons killed per vehicle, Greece has the highest index (788 deaths per million vehicles) as compared to the EU average (251 deaths per million vehicles).

In fact, with the exception of Portugal, all other EU countries have road accident indices of less than half the Greek one.

Mr. Kegeroglou recently brought this issue to the Parliament and asked: “what immediate and essential measures will the government take so traffic accidents decrease and we can stop mourning daily for our fellow men.”

Mr. Kegeroglou

He said that in the first eight months of 2008, the graph of road safety in Greece showed a serious deterioration compared to the corresponding months from last year. During this period, traffic accidents resulting in death increased by 8.6 percent and accidents resulting in people being seriously injured by 7.8 percent.

“In each traffic accident death, one or more of the following factors are always involved: excessive speed, alcohol consumption, disregard of seat belt, and ignoring the elementary rules of road behaviour," says Panayiotis Aggourithakis, director of EKAB (Association of Ambulance Drivers) on Crete. "And then other factors follow, like bad roads, bad road signs, bad road lighting, condition of the vehicle etc.”

Tasos Iaveris, a former race car driver, recently lectured at an event organized by the Aghios Nikolaos municipal police on the grisly subject of “Genocide on the Asphalt," emphasising that it’s the primary cause of death in the 18 to 44 age group.

“Intelligence, having a conscience, knowing and understanding the dangers and the ability to grasp your weaknesses, that is, to realize your ignorance, are the basic rules in driving correctly,” he said, referring to the more than 100,000 road deaths in Crete in the last 50 years.

So, why do these normally affable, intelligent and caring people suddenly forget the "basic rules" when they get behind the wheel of a car?

Mr. Iaveris

 "Basically, people are stressed about the dangers of driving, and they want to finish – go from one place to the next – as fast as possible," said Nikos Hronakis, a psychologist from Gournes. "Also, Cretans have a feeling of omnipotence – being in control of everything – which gives them a false sense of security."

Dr. Hronakis went on to say that some drivers have a sub-conscious tendency towards suicide and play a form of road roulette.

"Freud has written about the instincts of love and death, and driving alone on a highway, watching the oncoming cars, sometimes brings about the instinct of death," he explained.

Dr. Hronakis

Commander Nikos Tzirakis of Iraklion traffic police, when asked why Crete's drivers are continually ranked high among Europe's worst, said: "I don’t accept it." 

He explained that during the tourist season there are thousands of driving illegalities recorded by visitors and entered into the statistics.

"However, It could be said that Greeks have an aggressive driving behaviour and are more restless if you will," he continued. "Perhaps the Mediterranean temperament is to blame as we are a hot-blooded people which could contribute to certain aggressiveness."

The biggest offenders and contributors in traffic accidents, according to Commander Tzirakis are speeding, going through a red light, illegal passing and going over a double white line.   

He explained that the department has dual-system radar operating on the local highways.

"Normally it's working in conjunction with the police personnel, but it also has the capabilities to operate as photographic radar just clocking and taking pictures, which we do use at times," he said. "We issue about 3,500 summonses for moving violations every month, with most for speeding, and more in the summer when traffic increases, and we have additional supporting personnel."

The commander stated: "a decrease of traffic accidents, and mainly those that result in death, doesn't only depend on the traffic police, but all services and ministries involved with signage, road works and driving education must get involved and understand their responsibilities."

In trying to understand the Cretan driving mentality, this reporter decided to query driving instructors, but none agreed to speak "on the record" for fear of losing business. However, under the condition of anonymity, the proprietor of a driving school in Alikarnassos said: "Most student drivers have a bad preconditioned attitude toward driving, based on watching their parents behind the wheel. They come to us because it's mandatory in obtaining a driving license."

The former race car driver, Mr. Iaveris, summed up the mentality of Cretan drivers best when he stated: “Accidents don’t occur because Greeks don’t know how to drive, but because they don’t know that they don’t know how to drive.”