Greece’s worst road accident ever occurred April 13, when a truck hit a bus of high school students on the national highway linking Athens and Thessaloniki, killing 21 of them. It was the third serious bus accident this year, and has been blamed on driver error, improper safety checks and poor training of traffic police. The tragedy underscores the danger of road travel in Greece, a country whose fatality rate from road accidents is annually near Europe’s top. According to the U.S. Embassy in Athens, an average of five to ten Americans die each summer in road accidents here, most when riding motorbikes or mopeds. Further, two major portions of the new national highway connecting Athens with the Peloponnese crumbled following bad weather recently, causing major delays and forcing drivers onto dangerous mountain roads. The damage is reportedly so bad that repairs may not be possible, and the new road may need to be replaced.
