Speed ​​limits are being reduced – at which points the maximum speed will be 30 km

Reducing speed limits on city roads and increasing penalties for violating traffic rules provides for a new Traffic Code (KOK)presented to the Council of Ministers by the political leadership of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.

In particular, the new road code, which is expected to be submitted for public discussion soon, provides for a reduction in speed limits in cities to 30 km/h from 50 km/h today. At the same time, he is introducing a new policy regarding penalties, which will now depend solely on the severity of traffic violations.

At the same time, the political leadership of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport has already announced that they intend to put an end to the “erasing” of parking tickets, while ensuring that fines are collected!

The last time the COC was changed was in 2008

The authors of the new COC seek to create a comprehensive policy “fair punishments” for offenses according to their seriousness and risk, in a non-punitive manner. The purpose of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport is to ensure that drivers comply with traffic rules, reduce accidents and increase the number of fines.

In the same direction, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport plans to expand the use of technological tools to improve road safety, as well as use intelligent systems and advances in artificial intelligence to strengthen road control and law enforcement. At the same time, it is expected that the integration of relevant registries and systems of relevant ministries will facilitate the work of not only the police, but also drivers.

Among other things, the new draft Road Code abolishes the so-called “erasing” of fines (by personal agreement with a traffic policeman or for a bribe), since now violations will be registered by the competent authorities online on a new digital platform. According to reports, offending drivers will have time (7 to 10 days) to file their objections, which, if found to be valid, will result in the offenses and accompanying fines or points being removed.

Otherwise, the amount of the fine will be billed directly to the personal account in the Taxisnet tax system of the offending driver, who, if he does not pay it on time, will become a debtor of the state with all the ensuing consequences, including imprisonment in debtor's prison.

However, as current practice shows (including that of the author of the publication), these statements are usually thrown into the trash, since traffic police officers are financially interested in increasing the collection of fines.

It is also reported that traffic police officers will be equipped with special devices (tablets or special mobile phones) to post information about offenses online into the system, but it is not yet clear whether they will also carry POS devices so that violating drivers can pay fines directly.

However, an additional (and one of the most important, according to experts) innovation in the new COC is the provision that now the driver will be punished, not the carso if the “punished” family member received a warning, the rest of the family members will be able to travel in his car, since the measure of removing registration plates will not be applied…

New speed limits

One of the most important changes in the new COC concerns speed limits in cities, since most of the fatal road accidents are recorded in urban areas. This biggest problem that worries both traffic police officers and many traffic wardens is related to the new 30 km/h speed limit that the political leadership of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport wants to implement in cities.

If the new speed limit is applied in all cities of Greece, cameras are installed or control is carried out using drones, then traffic police estimate that in a very short time hundreds of thousands of drivers will be deprived of their driving license for at least 2 months! According to current data, this will happen if the driver drives at a speed of more than 60 km/h. In this case, the driver is also required to pay an administrative fine of 175 euros. This could collapse the entire system of traffic police work, because several thousand new police officers will need to be recruited to handle such actions.

Another issue raised by the proposed reduction in urban speed limits relates to minimum speed limitwhich is currently set at 30 km/h. If a reduction in the speed limit to 30 km/h is implemented, then the minimum speed limit will have to reduce to 10 or 20 km/h! It's easy to understand what will happen if a car on a single-lane road moves at a speed of 10 or 20 km/h – this is the “direct road” to insane congestion and traffic jams.

More severe penalties

It should be noted that significant changes in penalties for traffic violations include a new law of the Ministry of Justice entitled: “Amendments to the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes in order to speed up and improve the quality of criminal proceedings – modernization of the legislative framework for the prevention and suppression of domestic violence.”

In particular, the new law provides for a prison sentence of 1 to 10 years for such offenses as:driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs or excessive fatigue, driving into oncoming traffic, driving on pedestrian streets or squares, driving a technically unsafe vehicle, driving with dangerous maneuvers, driving on a highway at a speed exceeding 60 km/h/h (t i.e. 130 km/h) or driving in the city at a speed exceeding the speed limit by 40 km/h (i.e. 50 km/h), driving in the emergency lane and driving through a red traffic light.

And if the above offenses lead to the death of a large number of people, the court may even order life imprisonment!

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