The oldest cars in Europe drive on the roads of Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to official statistics. While the average age of a car in the European Union is 12 years, in Bosnia and Herzegovina the average age of four-wheelers is 17, and almost a fifth are older than 26 years.
According to official statistics, over a million passenger cars cruise the roads of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Of that number, only about 27,000 are between 2 and 5 years old. on the other hand, a fifth of the vehicle fleet in our country consists of vehicles over 26 years old.
BIHAMK says that the situation is better than last year, but far from good.
“38% of vehicles are older than 23 years. According to the data collected for the past year, we can conclude that the average age of vehicles in BiH is 17 years, which, when compared to the year before, is better, because in 2022 the average age was 19 years”, says Silma Muminović from the Department for Prevention and Education of BIHAMK.
Only one percent of vehicles are up to two years old, while in our country there are around 10% of owners of vehicles that are five to ten years old.
“There are also vehicles now 30 or more years old, from the beginning of the 90s. You have a popular model of Golf in our area, a few appear, but they are less and less. Some rule is that the younger the car, the better the condition of the vehicle, although not it must mean, basically, it’s up to the drivers and owners of the vehicles. Responsibility towards the vehicle is the main thing,” points out the head of car service, Miljan Janjić.
On the other hand, the age of the vehicle is a factor that affects traffic safety and the frequency of traffic accidents, but it is not a decisive factor, experts say.
“Everything is connected. So do drivers, we have a traffic culture that we see somewhere, we don’t see, where we are eyewitnesses to it all. Everything is the consciousness of the person, that is, the driver,” says the owner of the driving school, Miroslav Josić.
The “youngest” vehicles in Europe, whose average age is around 8 years, are driven by Austrians, Irish and Danes, and in the region by Slovenians, with an average age of four-wheelers of 12 years, BHRT writes.