"Serbia loses 4 percent of GDP through traffic accidents"

"Serbia loses 4 percent of GDP through traffic accidents"

BELGRADE -- Serbia annually loses nearly four percent of its GDP due to damages caused by traffic accidents, said Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Zorana Mihajlović.

She also serves as minister of construction, transport and infrastructure.

"As a country, we have taken on the obligation to make sure that no child is killed in traffic by 2020 and that the number of traffic accidents is reduced by 45 percent by 2025, and this topic will be tabled at the next government session," Mihajlović said.

She addressed the media on Thursday after the Traffic Safety Coordination Body met to adopt the basic principles for the national strategy for traffic safety.

The coordination body adopted the basic principles and the decision to include the subject about traffic and traffic safety in the educational programmes of elementary schools in Serbia.

Serbia annually loses nearly four percent of its GDP due to traffic accidents and damages caused by them, Mihajlović said and added that Serbia is a country with the highest traffic accident-related costs in Europe.