Fatal mix of Western cars and Soviet roads

BRUSSELS - Where the Lada was once king of the road, high performance 4x4s now hog the highways. Eastern Europe's dilapidated road network is being invaded by thousands of large, fast, cars leading to an epidemic of fatal accidents.

Speeding, drink driving and a failure to use seat belts and child seats are being blamed for the huge human toll in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

Roads accustomed to Soviet era cars are proving death traps for a new, affluent class of motorist.

This week the European Commission will publish a report which highlights the road safety problems of the EU's former communist countries.

Ministers will discuss the findings next month and the EU Transport Commissioner, Jacques Barrot, is considering plans to boost car safety technology and road infrastructure, and to ensure that countries enforce penalties for EU-agreed driving offences.

The document shows that France has cut road deaths by nearly one third since 2001 and that Britain has one of the best records, despite a 15 per cent jump in motorcycle deaths.

But road deaths have climbed since 2001 by 4 per cent in the Czech Republic, 7 per cent in Lithuania, 5 per cent in Hungary and 3 per cent in Poland.

Latvia leads the table for deaths per head of population, followed by Lithuania, with both countries recording more than 200 deaths per million - four times the figure for the UK.

The World Health Organisation's Margie Peden said: "Most of these countries are undergoing rapid transition and the infrastructure and safety issues are not keeping up."

Peden said that, while there was no blueprint, there were some basic measures including tough speeding laws, enforcement of drink-driving legislation, seat belts and car seats for children that cut road deaths.

The report blames the Latvian figures on "speeding, alcohol and high numbers of accidents occurring in the hours of twilight and darkness".

The countries that now make up the EU suffered 50,000 road deaths in 2001, and targeted a 50 per cent reduction by the end of the decade.

EU initiatives to cut the figures include safety, including legislation on the rest periods for commercial drivers, research and subsidies for improving infrastructure.

- INDEPENDENT