Istria Launches Campaign for Safer Roads
The 'Together on the Road' campaign highlights high-traffic sections and offers safer alternatives, aiming to reduce the risk of dangerous situations on Istrian roads.
The 'Together on the Road' campaign highlights high-traffic sections and offers safer alternatives, aiming to reduce the risk of dangerous situations on Istrian roads.
Cyclist safety on Istrian roads is becoming a priority with the new campaign "Together on the Road", presented on Thursday, August 6, 2026. The campaign aims to alert cyclists to high-traffic sections and offer them safer alternatives, while also appealing to motor vehicle drivers to show more responsibility and mutual respect.
The implementation of this initiative is led by the Istrian Development Tourism Agency through its department Istra Outdoor. In cooperation with the Department of Tourism of the Istrian County, Croatian Roads, County Road Administration, and the Ministry of the Interior, the campaign encompasses a series of activities aimed at increasing the safety of all road users.
The backbone of the campaign is the new edition of the Istrian road cycling map, which provides a detailed overview of routes with technical data and information about roads and settlements. This year's edition is enriched with the Parenzana and Štrika ferata routes, as well as selected attractions in less-visited parts of the peninsula.
Along with the map, a safety leaflet has been prepared that particularly highlights high-traffic sections and suggests alternative routes. The leaflet is intended for a wide range of users, from individual guests and recreational cyclists to cycle tourists, cycling clubs, and employees of tourist boards, hotels, and agencies. Printed materials will be available at tourist boards and campsites, while the map, trail information, and GPS tracks will be available digitally.
From the Istra Outdoor department, they warn of the growing gap between the increasing needs of cyclists and the speed of building appropriate infrastructure. On Istrian roads, the increased number of cyclists and motor vehicles raises the likelihood of dangerous situations, especially in areas where there are no separate cycling paths.
Until new separate surfaces are built, safety is being improved by informing and directing cyclists to less-trafficked roads, thereby mitigating this issue. At several locations across Istria, billboards have been placed with messages "Together on the Road" and "Too much traffic? Choose a safer route".
The effect of investing in safer infrastructure is best seen in the example of the section between Rovinj and the southern camps. After the road was widened and a separate cycling surface was built, the number of cyclist passages on the coastal promenade during the busiest summer months decreased from 55,000 to 42,000 per month.
On an annual basis, the number of recorded passages on the promenade decreased from approximately 220,000, as recorded in 2021 and 2022, to about 205,000 in the last comparable period. These figures show that some cyclists have adopted the new, safer route.
The "Together on the Road" campaign is part of broader activities for the development of cycle tourism, including the European project CYROS, which focuses on the development of Adriatic-Ionian cycling routes and safer cycling infrastructure.
