As usual, the law is becoming more restrictive.
After the Ministry of Interior initially announced that the new Law on Road Traffic Safety would include obligatory medical examinations for drivers older than 65 years of age – which was criticized by the Pensioners' Union because older drivers are rarely a cause of traffic accidents and forcing them to undergo physical exams would hit them financially – the Ministry has increased the age limit. The draft law now states that the compulsory medical exams will be introduced for drivers when they reach the age of 70, reports Večernji List on April 15, 2017.
Compared to the current regulations, the new law, for which the public consultation period runs until 27 April, will bring one additional major change. Drivers who are legally sanctioned for drunk driving on three separate occasions will have to undergo extraordinary medical exams.
Another novelty is the provision that new vehicles will not have to undergo annual technical checks for the first two years, except for emergency vehicles, taxis, trucks, and vans, which will have to be checked after one year. The police will have the right to take licence plates from vehicles if the driver's license has expired for more than two weeks. The driver who gets 12 penalty points on his license within two years will have the licence revoked and will not be able to re-take the driving exam for the next two years. For young drivers, the law will be even stricter – their licenses will be revoked after nine penalty points collected within two years.
Drivers caught driving before they had the right to retake driving exam will pay a fine between 5,000 and 15,000 kuna, or will go to jail for two months. However, violators of traffic rules which will have collected penalty points by the time the new law enters into force can relax because all previously collected points will be erased. The provisions on penalty points will become effective on 1 September.
Starting from 1 January, it will be easier to open driving schools. The government will also abolish the provision on the minimum price that a candidate driver has to pay, which should lead to price decreases. This provision has caused resentment among owners of driving schools, but it has to be included in the law because it will harmonize local laws with EU legislation. Due to the same reason, compulsory technical checks for new vehicles will be abolished starting from January.
