ATHENS – Former Public Order Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis, running for Athens City Council for New Democracy, pulled down a TikTok video he posted after being ripped for showing himself riding a motorcycle without a helmet.

While helmets are required in Greece, the law is widely ignored and not enforced, and many riders simply wrap them around their elbows to show they have one, rare to see anyone ticketed for not wearing it.

For Voulgarakis, who, as a minister charged with public safety, the issue became more prominent, especially as he’s running for the council after a failed mayoral bid in 2019, this time on the ticket of Mayor Kostas Bakoyiannis.

Voulgarakis showed himself driving a motorcycle around the city with his helmet hanging from his elbow, while joking that taking it on and off ruins his hair – he is bald – the video denounced on social media as “irresponsible,” and encouraging lawlessness.

The candidate being backed by the major opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance Costas Zachariadis, called on Bakoyannis to strike Voulgarakis off his ticket but there was no indication that happened..

It’s no surprise to anyone who’s seen drivers on Greek roads blasting through stop signs and red lights, nearly careening at high speeds and motorcycles weaving in and out – that it’s often deadly.

In 2022, Motorcycles and speeding were the biggest road safety hazards in the country, Greece’s average death rate of 36 percent in motorcycle accidents double the European Union average of 18 percent.

Greece also has one of the highest percentages (54 percent) of deaths in road accidents in residential areas – a fact mainly attributed to the number of motorcycle accidents and the leniency in not enforcing helmet laws.

Some 41 percent of deaths of drivers and passengers in road accidents were because of colliding with another vehicle, compared to the EU average of 31 percent. Most fatalities, 64 percent, were men, above the bloc average of 55 percent.