2024-04-07 04:57:25
A reduction in speed limits on city streets, penalties proportional to the seriousness of traffic violations and 24-hour surveillance of central roads with drones are provided for in the new Road Traffic Code which is expected to be put up for public consultation soon. In particular, with regard to the movement of vehicles in cities, the new KOK provides for the reduction of the speed limit to 30 km/h (to 20 km/h outside schools) from 50 km/h today.
The authors of the new KOK aspire to establish a comprehensive policy of fair penalties for traffic violations, depending on their seriousness and dangerousness. At the same time, they plan to expand the use of technological means to enhance road safety but also to utilize artificial intelligence and other “intelligent” systems to enhance road surveillance and law enforcement. Also, the unification of the respective registers of KOK penalties held by the co-competent Ministries of Transport and Citizen Protection is being promoted, which will facilitate the work of the Police and drivers.
SMS call
Among other things, the so-called “deletion” of calls is abolished, as violations will be registered by the competent bodies directly on a new online digital platform. The offending driver will immediately receive the call on his mobile phone via SMS, without anyone having time to intervene to “turn it off”.
In particular, the Traffic Police officers will be equipped with special devices (tablets or special mobile phones) so that they can post violations online in the system as well as the corresponding penalty points that accompany them in the point system. A driver will “lose” his driving license immediately upon completing 25 penalty points.
Offending drivers will have a period of time (7 to 10 days) to submit their objections and, if they are deemed valid, the offenses and the fines or points that accompany them will be deleted.
Otherwise, the fine will be posted directly to the Taxisnet account of the offending driver and if he does not pay it on time, then it will be a confirmed debt to the State. An additional innovation of the new KOK is the provision according to which the driver will now be punished and not the vehicle, as the measure of removing license plates is abolished. In this way, the rest of the family will not be deprived of the vehicle.
The “Gordian bond”
One of the most important changes, however, concerns the new speed limits in cities, as more and more fatal traffic accidents are recorded within the urban fabric.
However, Traffic officials and transportation experts see as a “thorn” the new upper speed limit of 30 km/h that the Ministry of Transport wants to apply in cities. In fact, on streets outside schools, etc. this limit is being considered to be set at 20 km/h.
With the implementation of the new speed limit in urban areas and its 24-hour automatic surveillance with cameras or drones, it is estimated that in a short period of time hundreds of thousands of drivers will be at risk of “losing” their driving license for at least two months.
Today, this happens when a driver moves at a speed of more than 60 km/h, where he is asked to pay an administrative fine of 175 euros.
Another problem that will arise with the proposed reduction of the upper speed limit in cities is that related to the minimum speed of movement. Today, the minimum speed at which a vehicle can travel on the central arteries of a city is 30 km/h.
However, if the upper speed limit is reduced to 30 km/h, then the minimum speed limit should also be reduced, respectively, to 10 or 20 km/h. One can easily understand the burden on the traffic, when some vehicles will move at such low speeds on roads with one traffic lane.
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