Driving in Cyprus

Some advice - when driving in Cyprus expect the unexpected or the plain stupid.

Not that you'd notice it but all the sensible rules designed to ensure safety on the roads apply here, like seatbelts and not using your mobile phone whilst driving, all made simpler by driving on the left. However, Cyprus has been ranked in the top three European countries, per capita, in terms of road fatalities, with even more worrying statistics involving young people.

According to the Cyprus police service the main causes of road traffic accidents on the island are:

1. Speeding
2. Careless driving
3. Tailgaiting
4. Failing to obey traffic signs
5. Driving on the wrong side of the road
6. Driving under the influence of alcohol
7. Pedestrian carelessness

There are some interesting, if rather grim, statistics here.

The traffic department also claims to be clamping down on driving transgressions (they'd certainly make a financial killing if they did) but I haven't seen much evidence of this. If they started with the twits who ride motorbikes without helmets and the parents and grandparents who let children go without seatbelts it would be a much safer place.

The speed limit and particularly red traffic lights are optional extras. Mind you the speed limit on the main dual carriageways is 100 kph (a modest 65 mph). The number of times I've seen people blatantly go through red traffic lights or edge across junctions is nobody's business. And it would actually be dangerous to stop at a red pedestrian light if there weren't any pedestrians in sight.

So to survive as a driver in Cyprus, keep your wits about you, and to a large extent go with the flow as the locals will expect you to be as aggressive as they are.