Athens, Dec. 17, (dpa/GNA) – Greece’s Health Ministry and fuel station owners have joined forces in a campaign to induce motorcyclists to wear helmets by denying them fuel if they are not wearing one when filling their tanks.
The “No Helmet, No Fuel” initiative comes in response to hundreds of biker deaths in the country every year and was sparked by a Cretan fuel station owner’s reaction to the death of a 17-year-old on the island in November.
That idea was widely reported, and the Health Ministry in Athens decided to take it up.
Motorcyclists make up 23% of road traffic in Greece, placing it second in the European Union behind only Italy, where the figure is 26%.
According to the Greek transport association, around 20% ride without a helmet. Motorcyclists make up 38% of all road deaths, against an EU average of 18%, with more than two thirds of those dying in Greece being helmetless at the time of the accident.
The reasons for not wearing a helmet are manifold: habit, summer heat and the lack of checks. “Hundreds of people die every year,” Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis said in a television ad backing the campaign.
According to the road transport association, the risk of death among bike riders aged 18 to 24 is 10 times that for those of the same age behind the wheel of a car.
It is not yet clear whether fuel station owners will back the campaign, and they are under no legal obligation to do so. But Greek media are taking the view that even partial adherence could lower the death toll.
GNA