Road accident prevention group calls for tougher legislation for hit-and-runs

The “SOS-Road Accidents” national association has called for an amendment to existing legislation so that stricter penalties are imposed in cases of hit-and-run incidents.

According to the association, in Athens alone more than 25 hit-and-run incidents are recorded every year, but it also notes that the problem is a nationwide one, and cites Crete in particular.

Inebriation and lack of insurance or a driving license are the main reasons why drivers abandon their victims, it says.

“In recent years, hit-and-run incidents have become a very common occurrence,” the association’s president Giorgos Kouvidis told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency and called for an amendment so that hit-and-run incidents are prosecuted as felonies.

Under the current rules, a case may take 10 years to be tried in court and the penalties are limited to the suspension of the guilty party’s driving license for two to six months.