The Kathimerini English Edition online reports that 8 in 10 Greeks drivers break the rules by driving way over speed limits. Greek drivers speed because they’re in a hurry or just plain bored despite increasing fines and speeding limits are interpreted as mere abstract numbers on roadways.
The researchers attribute this mainly to “fragmentary policing;” drivers who have been fined assume “that they have little chance of it happening again.”
Similarly, Greek drivers seem unaffected by accidents they have had in the past. The survey notes that car drivers who have been involved in accidents in the past five years admit to driving as fast (average 131.8 km/h) as those who haven’t (average 131.1 km/h). The difference is also minimal for truckdrivers; those who had had an accident in the past five years drive 6 km/h faster than those who haven’t.
