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Anastasia Balezdrova

The charitable foundation of the Federation Internationale de L’Automobile provided today 300 safety helmets for the Special Olympics athletes, who will participate in bicycle races during the Games in Athens in June and made a major financial contribution for the training program for children with disabilities.

The patron of the campaign for road safety worldwide, Prince Michael of Kent, expressed his satisfaction to be in Greece again at the ensuing press conference

"I visited this wonderful city for the first time in 1950. Greek blood is running through my veins and I am very happy to be in Athens on this special occasion, which connects an international sporting event with the challenge to reduce accidents on the road.

In June this year, Greece will host the international games for the mentally disabled and I am very pleased that the Federation Internationale de L’Automobile will sponsor the bicycle races to be held. The aim is to ensure the safety of the races. So, helmets are provided for the athletes.

Special Olympics are very special Olympics, through which we will send the message of how important it is for cyclists and motorcyclists to wear helmets. The global campaign of the UN on the Decade of the World Road Safety 2011-2020 will start in May. The campaign aims to reduce the accidents on the road by half by 2020. That means five million casualties and over 50 million injuries worldwide. The European Union also agreed last July to participate in an affiliate program for the same purpose.

In this way, both campaigns will promote the use of helmets, which are the only effective means to avoid fatalities and serious injuries. Wearing a helmet reduces the risk of serious injury by 72%. About 30% of crashes in Greece involve motorcyclists. However, the number of people who wear helmets is relatively small, although the law requires both drivers and passengers to do so. In 2009, 75% of the drivers and 46% of the passengers did not wear helmets. The Greek experience is very different from the data in other European countries. In Spain, for example, 98% of motorcyclists and 92% of passengers wear helmets.

Unfortunately, the number of road accidents in Greece is one of the highest in Europe. Deaths in the youth age group of 18-24 years are 272 per million inhabitants, which is again the highest percentage in Europe.

I can not agree that the poor condition of the Greek economy is an obstacle to the promotion of wearing helmets. According to the World Health Organization data, deaths and serious injuries in Europe cost the society more than 3% of the gross domestic product.

Statistics show not only destroyed lives, but a significant loss of funds and economic resources. So, I think that road safety is not a luxury but an important factor for economic recovery," said the British prince in his speech.

The Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Spiros Vougias, in turn, presented the results of the study of the Polytechnic University in Athens, according to which 80% of deaths among motorcyclists are due to skull - brain injuries. Greek motorcyclists who move in the morning hours on weekdays wear helmets. This is not valid on weekends, however, when the checks are less frequent. The Deputy Minister, who is also a professor on transport activity, promised all necessary measures to be taken, including tax cuts so that all motorcyclists obtain high quality and safe helmets.

Similar was the message of the manager of the charity foundation of the International Automobile Federation David Ward. "I am enthusiastic that our foundation supports the cyclists who will participate in the Special Olympics Games. I am convinced that these games are the most appropriate form of the important message that cyclists and motorcyclists should always wear helmets."

The chairwoman of the Organizing Committee of the Games Yana Despotopoulou thanked Prince Michael for his support and announced that the campaign will be presented formally to the European Congress on "Greece and the Decade of Action in Favour of Road Safety 2011 - 2020" which will be held tomorrow in Hania on the island of Crete.

The press conference was attended by members of the Greek cycling team, which will participate in the games. Their coach Panagiotis Karahalios told GRReporter how important it is to wear helmet, because he himself was the victim of a road crash with a motorcycle and has survived thanks to it. He is a physical education teacher, a former athlete and for ten years he has been a coach in cycling to children with mental disabilities. For him, the work with them is fun, rewarding and joy. "I would not say it's harder to work with these children. The problems are different and we solve them in different way, but I can not say that we have a serious problem compared to other athletes."

Panagiotis works with about 30 athletes twice a week. "The abilities of the athletes of the Special Olympics are at a fairly high level. Some of them even participate in competitions during which they compete with perfectly healthy athletes." According to the coach, cycling is one of the most popular sports among the athletes of Special Olympics, because it is a form of entertainment to them.