Denada Jushi
Friday brings the end of a week and many citizens decide to travel to different destinations.
Last Friday afternoon, the journey to Lezha featured a car split in two, a chaos of people, and the voice of a driver calling for an ambulance because he suspected there were victims.
The Thumanë-Milot axis resembled a war scene!
Unfortunately, the head-on collision caused 3 serious injuries and the loss of life of a 61-year-old woman.
But this wasn't the only case this weekend.
In just two days, the country's roads produced a balance that is not sporadic, but an event that we see repeated, unfortunately, quite a few times.
5 fatalities and at least 5 injured in four serious accidents, from the north to the south of the country.
The most tragic case was on Saturday evening on the Lezhë-Kakarriq axis, where a vehicle went off the road and ended up in a canal filled with water. Two people, a father and daughter, lost their lives on the spot.
They were only found after an alarm was raised by family members who were unable to contact them.
Preliminary police dynamics told the ACQJ that it is believed that the driver lost control and fell into the canal.
A few hours later, unfortunately, on the Elbasan-Cërrik axis, another collision between two vehicles took the life of a young man and left another injured.
The one who lost his life was only 28 years old.
Another fatality was recorded in Tirana, in the Kombinat area, where a motorcycle rider lost his life after colliding with a truck, while another person was injured. Accidents involving heavy vehicles and small vehicles, especially in urban areas, are among the most dangerous due to the large difference in weight and the lack of protection for motorcycle riders.
But this entire balance, unfortunately, is a recurring picture.
The entry of 2026 produced the same balance for 48 hours, but we see no improvement.
What unites these accidents are the problems.
Speed, lack of signage, carelessness on the part of drivers or pedestrians, lack of side protection, etc.
In Albania, problematic segments that produce victims have been identified for years, but no lessons are learned from these cases.
Road safety expert Gëzim Hoxha says that accidents are the result of a chain of factors such as: driver behavior, road conditions, vehicle standards, etc.
Five lives lost in two days should be a sign that intervention on Albania's roads is immediate.
Even though the police are not absent and the fines are hefty, these tools generate more money than they are a lesson for managers.
Today, the 5 victims and 5 injured are not a balance sheet, but an alarm that accident situations in Albania are an ongoing problem.
Each of us who starts driving a car must be responsible for our own lives, as well as those of others.
Better late than never arriving!acqj.al
