Ιόνιο: 1.730 παραβάσεις σε μία εβδομάδα ελέγχων

One thousand seven hundred and thirty violations were recorded in 4,561 traffic checks of vehicles in the Ionian Islands in the week from 9 to 15 August 2026. The checks were carried out by services of the Police Departments of Corfu, Kefalonia, Zakynthos and Lefkada, as part of targeted actions for road safety during the peak season. The breakdown of violations by island shows 846 in Corfu, 367 in Zakynthos, 360 in Lefkada and 157 in Kefalonia, an image that primarily reflects the volume of traffic and the number of visitors to each destination. Corfu collects almost half of the violations, an image that goes hand in hand with the fact that it is the most populous and most visited island of the complex.

The detailed record shows that the most frequent individual violation was not wearing a protective helmet, with 358 cases. There are 162 offenses for speeding, 40 for not wearing a seat belt, 38 for driving under the influence of alcohol, 32 for driving without a license, 21 for driving against the current, 15 for not having insurance, 12 for not carrying out a roadworthiness test, 8 for using a mobile phone, 7 for illegal overtaking and 5 for violating a traffic light. The remaining 1,032 are classified as other violations. The category of other offenses mainly includes issues of parking, marking and vehicle documents.

The offense profile reflects the pattern of traffic on the islands during the summer months. The high prevalence of rented two-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles, combined with visitors who are often unfamiliar with the local road network, explains the predominance of helmet-related offences. Bikes and so-called pigs are the main cause of serious injury on the islands each summer, with hospital emergency departments seeing an increased flow of cases from mid-July to late August. The obligation to use a helmet also applies to the passenger, while rental vehicles must be delivered with the necessary equipment.

The offenders were confirmed with the prescribed administrative fines and the checks are ongoing. Care should be taken not to confuse the data with another bulletin published almost simultaneously covering a different time window, from August 10 to 16, and a different targeted action entitled “Zero tolerance for non-helmet use”: that recorded 1,383 checks and 349 helmet violations. The two numbers, 358 and 349, do not refer to the same set of controls. More in the section Traffic and Transport. The police departments of the Ionian Islands have announced that the targeted actions will continue until the end of the tourist season.