Athens Road Safety March and Major Traffic Crash

The news in Greek

1. πορεία  (f.)
   ομαδικό περπάτημα πολλών ανθρώπων στον δρόμο για κάποιον σκοπό, π.χ. για διαμαρτυρία ή στήριξη ↩︎
2. μνήμη  (f.)
   η ικανότητα του ανθρώπου να θυμάται ή και η τελετή για να θυμόμαστε κάποιον που πέθανε ↩︎
3. θύμα  (n.)
   πρόσωπο ή ζώο που παθαίνει κακό από ένα ατύχημα, έγκλημα ή καταστροφή ↩︎
4. συγγενής  (m.)
   άτομα της ίδιας οικογένειας, που έχουν οικογενειακή σχέση μεταξύ τους ↩︎
5. ασφαλής
   που δεν έχει κίνδυνο ή που προστατεύει από τον κίνδυνο ↩︎
6. καθυστέρηση  (f.)
   όταν κάτι δεν γίνεται την ώρα που ήταν προγραμματισμένο αλλά πιο αργά ↩︎

Translation

Text comprehension

Question 1: Who took part in the march in the center of Athens on Sunday?

Question 2: What did the people in the march ask for?

Vocabulary

Greek	English
πορεία  (f.)	march
μνήμη  (f.)	remembrance
θύμα  (n.)	victim
συγγενής  (m.)	relative
ασφαλής	safe
καθυστέρηση  (f.)	delay

Read the full story

Relatives of road traffic victims, together with many supporters, marched in the centre of Athens on Sunday morning to mark the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. The event was organised by the Panhellenic Association “SOS Road Crimes”, a group that campaigns for safer roads and justice for people killed or injured in crashes.

The march had originally been scheduled for the previous Sunday. However, the Hellenic Police (EL.AS.) banned all public gatherings on that day because of the official visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Athens. As a result, the organisers postponed the demonstration by one week.

Participants walked through central streets starting from the junction near the Hilton Hotel. Many held banners showing photos of relatives and friends who lost their lives in road crashes, turning the event into both a protest and a public act of remembrance. According to reports, the march followed the current Greek law for small demonstrations, which requires such events to use only one traffic lane. In this way, the protesters aimed to make their message visible while keeping disruption to car traffic limited.

The demonstration took place against a wider background of concern about road safety and congestion in the Athens region. On the same day, roads in Attica were once again heavily congested. Traffic was especially slow on Kifisos Avenue, Kifisias Avenue and the major ring road known as the Attiki Odos.

On the Attiki Odos, in the direction towards Athens International Airport, a four-vehicle collision near the caused serious delays. Traffic updates from the road operator reported that the crash blocked the left-hand lane and that drivers should expect long queues. Separate reports also mentioned a collision involving four vehicles near Marathonos in the direction of Elefsina, adding to the problems.

In other parts of the city, the northbound lanes of Kifisos Avenue were described as “red”, meaning very slow traffic, from the area of Athinon Avenue towards Nea Filadelfia. The southbound lanes were also affected in sections from the Lykovrysi bridge towards the intercity bus station (K.T.E.L.). On Mesogeion Avenue, especially through Cholargos, vehicles were moving at low speeds, while both directions of Kifisias Avenue experienced sustained congestion.

For observers outside Greece, the combination of the memorial march and the multiple-vehicle crash on a key motorway highlights how road safety remains a central issue in and around Athens. The marchers focused on remembering victims and calling for better protection for road users, while the day’s heavy traffic and collisions underlined that managing road risk and urban congestion continues to be a daily challenge for authorities and drivers alike.

Info: ‘Greek Learner News’ is a service from ‘Let’s Learn Greek’, a language school dedicated to teaching Greek through a range of online courses that help students learn Greek online at their own pace.