Although the number of road accidents in Hargita (Harghita) County decreased last year versus 2019, more people lost their lives on roads. The highest number of accidents happened on county roads and were caused by cyclists – according to the 2020 annual evaluation report of the Road Traffic Control Department of the Hargita County Police.
According to the report, 405 accidents happened in 2020 on Hargita County roads, which is a major decrease compared to the 456 reported accidents the year before.
But if we take a closer look, we can see that the positive trend was not typical in all of the subcategories. The number of serious accidents decreased (from 165 to 132) as well as minor accidents (from 291 to 273); so did the number of serious injuries (from 173 to 128) and minor injuries (from 437 to 367), but the number of fatal injuries increased from 18 to 22.
The fact that people used their cars less in 2020 than in 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic can be seen in the road accident statistics. In 2019, most accidents (42) were caused by speeding, followed by offenses committed by cyclists (28). There were also 15 accidents caused by animals and animal-drawn vehicles, while 15 accidents were the results of ignoring the Yield/ Right of Way rule/sign; 12 accidents were caused by offenses committed by pedestrians.
On the other hand, per the 2020 statistics, cyclists caused the most accidents, even though this number actually decreased from the 2019 figure to 24. They were followed by speeding (19), offenses committed by pedestrians (15), and accidents caused by animals and animal-drawn vehicles (11).
According to last year’s figures, the most serious accidents in Hargita County happened on county roads (53 out of the 132), not on national roads and highways. At the same time, 34 serious accidents happened on city streets. If we take a look at the days of the week, the highest number of serious accidents happened on Friday (30), with the most serious accidents happening between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Last year, 1,710 drivers lost their driver’s license, while traffic control officers imposed about 8,000 fines. The most common cause of both losing one’s license and getting a fine was speeding. (maszol.ro)
Title image: politiaromana.ro
