None of the Albanian road axes meets the conditions of a highway or a safe road, according to the Road Code. Citizens Channel takes a look at how a safe road should be and what is currently happening with the alarming numbers of accidents involving everyone from the driver to the pedestrian.
Albanian roads continue to produce victims from accidents, which according to the statistics of the police and the Albanian Road Authority, the responsibility remains with the lack of standards in construction, low safety parameters and driving in violation of the Road Code.
Referring to the last figures of September 2017, according to the Institute of Statistics, there are 172 accidents considered to have serious consequences. 10% of them have had fatal consequences, producing 17 victims.
According to data provided by Citizens Channel, in the last two years the number of accidents with injuries, serious damage or loss of life remains high.
The cities where these accidents occur the most are Tirana, Durres, Lezha, Elbasani, Fieri, Korça, Shkodra and Vlora, resulting in the highest number of maimed or victims.
According to the analysis of the Traffic Police, the cause of the accidents is due to the fact that in these districts there are urban axes where the movement of vehicles is the largest in the whole country throughout the 24 hours. Vehicles dominated by small vehicles, buses, vans, trucks, as well as heavy tonnage vehicles.
While some of the Citizens Channel photos show that even motorcycles use high speed roads and why it is not allowed.
Problem axes
Although the first highway in Albania is the Tirana-Durrës one, it never met the conditions required by the law and remained an interurban road. Such is the road Durrës-Kukës, Tirana-Elbasan, Plepa-Rrogozhinë, Levan-Fier, etc.
In the fund of roads in Albania, including the highway or not, until now none is surrounded on both sides by protective walls. These measures would prevent the entry of citizens on the road to cross from one side to the other, the entry of unauthorized vehicles, the entry of animals and even work carts, as usually happens in areas where these roads intersect with agricultural lands or villages. inhabited.
In some photographs provided by Citizens Channel, it appears that even on roads known as highways, none of them meet the legal conditions. These roads are also used by unauthorized vehicles or driven by drivers and motorcyclists who do not respect basic safety: that of wearing a protective suit.
Referring to the tables of accidents according to districts, in Tirana during the period 2015-217 over 2 such accidents occurred.
As if the high number of victims was not enough, what emerges from the analysis of the causes blames drivers, passengers, motorcyclists, pedestrians and cyclists.
Another concern drawn from police reports is the fact that only a few roads in the country are equipped with traffic lights, which means that intersections and intermittent roads are not regulated with priority according to the Road Code.
Officially, there is no exact figure regarding the traffic lights in the country, but unofficially it is known that there are no more than 100 of them that are functional and most of them are located in Tirana, Durrës, Fier and Vlora.
The rest of the country has a limited number and 80% of urban areas are not covered by traffic lights, which is considered a lack of safety standards and a dangerous gap for road users.
The only city that has a traffic monitoring hall is Tirana. But the management of this hall is at critical levels, since most of the time the traffic lights that are required by passers-by to cross the white lines by pressing the priority button, are not functional.
Another lack of the road safety standard is the emergency or dedicated lanes, which include spaces for ambulances, fire engines, driving schools, pedaling areas or dedicated crossings.
While in the world, the ISO 39001 standard has been applied for years for the safety of road traffic and road managers, in our country, on Interurban and Urban highways, the lack of safety starts from their construction and then lasts for decades.
In a reaction to the Citizens Channel, the head of the Traffic Police, Mital Tola, says that "the main cause of accidents are drivers who do not respect the Highway Code, roads that do not have safety parameters, asphalt quality and mandatory signage".
According to Tola, dangerous axes continue to remain from Tirana to the north "Kamëz-Nikël-Laç-Lezhë-Shkodër" as well as Rruga e Kombit during the winter season. According to him, Elbasan-Qafë Thane, Gjirokastër-Kakavije, as well as Rrogozhinë-Fier remain equally dangerous, because the drivers on these axes use speeds beyond the permitted rates.
Author: A. R
