The furor from a fatal traffic accident on Crete, which saw two police officers over the weekend release an inebriated motorist who hours later was involved in a deadly collision with a motorcyclist, was followed a day later with another tragic crash on a southern Greek mainland highway.
In the second incident, a motorcyclist and his pillion were killed in the former’s attempt to avoid an object in the middle of the pavement, and after another motorist’s warning to police was ostensibly ignored.
The victims were identified as a 48-year-old high-ranking police officer and his 43-year-old wife.
Initial press reports on Monday had a motorist calling an emergency police dispatcher and warning of a large object located on the southbound lane of the Athens-Lamia tollway, near the Schimatari intersection – one of the most travelled stretches of highway in the country.
The same reports claim that the dispatcher advised the motorist to call the tollway operator’s emergency three-digit number for road assistance.
Moments later the motorcyclist reached the point where the object was located, and in his attempt to avoid a collision veered left into the metal barriers separating traffic.
The object was identified as a large plastic water tank that fell off a preceding vehicle driven by a 59-year-old man, although police have not confirmed this information.
According to reports, the deceased couple leave behind two underage children.
Back on Crete, Greece’s largest island and among the worst regions in the country for the sheer number of serious traffic accidents recorded every year, a motorist was arrested in the early morning hours of Sunday for reckless driving.
Police arrested a man near the Geranios site near the port city of Rethymno, along the traffic-laden roadway that’s billed as a highway along the northern coast.
The driver was found to be in excess of the legal alcohol limit, while among others, a hand grenade was found in his vehicle.
