Ex-race car driver says road accidents in Greece tantamount to 'genocide'

A veteran Greek race car driver and road safety activist has likened the number of traffic deaths in the country over the past 50 years to "genocide" and calls on the new government to start educating motorists on proper driving behavior when they're still children.

In an interview with the Athens-Macedonian News Agency, retired rally champion Tasos Markouizos said that an estimated 120,000 people have died on Greece's roads in the past 50 years, 350,000 have been disabled by traffic accidents and more than 2 million have been injured. Road accidents "are wiping out the Greek race," he said.

Markouizos - who is the founder of the road safety organization Iaveris, named after the 19th century "consummate legalist" in Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables," Javert - urged the new government to tackle the issue by introducing road safety education programs for children, starting...