ZAGREB, February 11, 2020 - There were 297 road fatalities in Croatia in 2020, the fewest in the past 60 years, but the country is still far from the goal of having fewer than 213 road fatalities annually by the end of this year, a conference on road traffic safety heard on Monday.

The conference on the 2011-20 national road traffic safety programme was organised by the Zagreb Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences and the Interior Ministry.

Speaking to the press afterwards, Minister Davor Božinović said the results were visible as the best steps forward in all segments over the past 60 years were made in 2019.

He underlined the importance of prevention from the youngest age. Speaking of problems in road traffic safety, he mentioned repeat offenders, saying penalties were much stricter under the new Road Traffic Safety Act, as well as old cars, as a large number of crashes are caused by vehicles that are ten or 15 years old, and the condition of roads themselves.

Josip Mataija, head of the Road Traffic Safety Service, said there were 426 traffic-related deaths in 2010 and 297 last year.

He said the goal of having fewer than 213 by the end of this year could be achieved thanks to stricter penalties as well as focus on risk groups such as young and elderly drivers, bicyclists and motorcyclists. He said over 4,200 repeat offenders were caught last year.

Mataija said police would also watch out for speeding, drunk driving, use of mobile phones while driving and not wearing a seat belt.

Asked about the point of stricter penalties if courts assessed offences differently, he said the courts had upheld more than 300 prison sentences, including for one driver who was sentenced to 120 days behind bars.

Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences professor Željko Marušić said it would be tough to have less than 213 traffic fatalities by the end of this year. He pushed for amending the strategy, making the punishment of drivers a certainty, and lower taxes on safe cars.

More news about driving in Croatia can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, August 11, 2019 - The lion's share of Croatian drivers (91%) use cellular phones while driving, and in addition every second pedestrian is on the phone while crossing the street, which affects the traffic safety and which has made the parliamentary home affairs committee propose designating 21 October as the national day of traffic free of cellular phones.

The findings of a 2017 survey on traffic habits, which were used for the preparation of the committee-sponsored proposal tabled to the parliament, also show that one in three cyclists also operate their phone while riding a bicycle.

The particularly alarming finding is that two fifths (40%) of drivers and traffic participants seem disinclined to change the habit of using their phones in traffic, regardless of fines. This disinclination stems from their ignorance of how the use of mobile telephones can distract drivers, cyclists and pedestrians and thus affect traffic safety.

The use of cellular phones in traffic is a growing global problem and is regarded to be the fourth most common cause of traffic fatality.

The initiative to designate 21 October as Croatia's national day of cell phone-free traffic was launched by the Croatian association of safety managers (HUMS) and was approved by the Interior Ministry which perceives the proposal as an additional step in efforts to raise awareness of dangers of the use of cell phones in traffic.

The proposal will be on the parliament's agenda this autumn.

Currently, using the phone while driving is fined 1,000 kuna (135 euro) in Croatia.

More news about driving in Croatia can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, March 28, 2019 - A bill on road traffic safety which the government sent to parliament on Thursday, envisages a significant increase in fines for traffic offences and recommends the temporary confiscation of vehicles for repeated offenders.

Presenting the bill to the government, Interior Minister Davor Božinović said that the experts from the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences were engaged to draft this legislative proposal which is aimed at raising all traffic participants' awareness of the need to respect traffic regulations in order to reduce the number of serious offences that endanger lives on the road.

The bill proposes higher fines for traffic offences and a period of ban from driving a motor vehicle depending on the number of offences committed by an offender.

Grave traffic offences include driving in the opposite direction on motorway, fast access roads, exceeding the speed limit in built-up areas by more than 50 km/h, passing through a red light, refusing to take an alcohol test, driving with more than a 1.5 g/kg alcohol blood level or under the influence of narcotics, driving without a licence.

Other offences include driving without a seat belt, use of mobile phone while driving, leaving the site of an accident and the like.

The bill proposes the temporary confiscation of a vehicle for repeated gross offenders, Božinović said underscoring that temporarily means until the case is heard before a court which has to be within 15 days and would apply to drivers who have committed two previous grave offences.

A novelty is that drivers have to keep a safe distance between vehicles on motorways as well as the obligation to have a camera recording a driver when taking a driver's test for a licence in order to increase transparency and quality of driving tests.

Considering the controversy in public over the proposal for compulsory medical check-ups for elderly drivers when extending their licence and that an agreement has not been reached with pensioners' representatives, it is important to say that until a final draft of the bill is prepared, negotiations will continue and an additional analysis will be conducted with Health Ministry officials and a regulation will be adopted that will improve safety on the roads while taking account that it does not pose a too large financial burden for the elderly, Božinović said.

The government today sent to parliament a bill of amendments to the legislation of the police powers and jurisdiction.

More news on driving in Croatia can be found in the Lifestyle section.

The Ministry of the Interior has launched the public consultation process for the draft amendments to the Road Traffic Safety Act, which drastically increase the penalties for many driving offences in Croatia. For example, the changes introduce the possibility of seizure of vehicles from drivers who repeatedly commit serious crimes such as driving under the influence of alcohol or driving at speeds 50 kilometres per hour above the limit, reports Večernji List on February 21, 2019.

The fee will be increased, for example, for running the red light at intersections to up to 20,000 kuna. However, the changes also foresee an increase in penalties for less serious traffic offences. Drivers who break the rules of the right of way will have to pay a fine in the amount of between 3,000 to 7,000 kuna and will receive three negative points on their driver’s licence. Currently, the penalty is 3,000 kuna. Such drivers will also be banned from driving for a month, three months or six months, depending on how many times they have already committed the same offence.

A driver who does not stop at a pedestrian crossing with traffic lights when he or she has the red light will pay a fine of between 3,000 and 7,000 kuna; so far, the penalty was 1,000 kuna. They will also have their driving licence suspended for a period of one, three or six months, depending on how many times they have committed the offence previously. And there will also be three penalty points.

Drivers who are using the left lane on motorways although the right lane is empty will see their fines increased from 500 kuna to 2,000 kuna.

In winter, drivers must clean their frosted windscreens and remove snow from the vehicle. In addition to the snow, they will have to remove ice and water from the car. If they do not, they will pay a fine of 1,000 kuna. So far, the penalty amounted to 700 kuna.

Among other changes, the penalty for using mobile phones while driving will be increased from 500 to 1,500 kuna, and the penalty for not using the seat belt from 500 to 1,000 kuna.

Translated from Večernji List (reported by Josip Bohutinski).

More news about driving in Croatia can be found in the Travel section.

After a series of serious traffic accidents caused by drunk drivers, the Interior Ministry has started to draft amendments to the Law on Road Traffic Safety, reports Index.hr on November 6, 2018.

Just last weekend, the police identified 4,588 violations of traffic rules, out of which over 1,800 were people driving faster than the speed limit. During the intensified traffic controls, 482 alcohol-related driving violations were reported and the highest measured alcohol concentration, in the amount of 0.34%, was recorded in Koprivnica-Križevci County.

In order to respond to the problem as quickly as possible, Interior Minister Davor Božinović met with representatives of the Faculty of Traffic Sciences. In addition to the minister, the meeting was attended by the Chief of Police Nikola Milin, his deputy Josip Ćelić, chief of police directorate Ivan Merčep and head of the Traffic Safety Department Josip Mataija.

This was not the first meeting of experts from the two institutions on the issue. While not solely responsible for the traffic safety, the Ministry of the Interior has started with the activities to find more suitable solutions, more appropriate to current circumstances, with a view to preserving lives and improving road traffic culture through expert working groups. The Interior Ministry has initiated the meeting on the basis of the opinion that in finding a high-quality and comprehensive solution it is necessary to achieve cooperation with the scientists who deal with traffic issues.

The sanctions currently prescribed for drivers by the Law on Road Traffic Safety do not fully meet their purpose, meaning that the perpetrators of the violations are not sufficiently deterred from repeating their illegal driving habits. Therefore, the intention is to move forward towards solutions that could include the permanent revocation of driving licenses, but also the seizure of vehicles which were used in committing a traffic offense. One of the proposals is to introduce liability for owners of vehicles which were used for committing traffic offenses.

“We will launch a legislative initiative to increase punishments for drivers who cause serious traffic accidents, especially those who belong to the recidivist category,” the minister said in a conversation with Nova TV. “In our opinion, the vehicle as a mean of committing a criminal offense should be seized even if the offence was not committed by the owner of the vehicle. The owner should assume the responsibility for giving the vehicle to the driver,” Božinović said.

The Ministry of the Interior has also supported the proposal of the Faculty of Traffic Sciences for the establishment of the centre of excellence as part of the faculty, which will bring together all the relevant authorities and work on strategic solutions.

In the first ten months of this year, 272 people died in 257 traffic accidents, with 185 dying on the spot, which is 68% of the total number of deaths.

For more on traffic issues in Croatia, click here.

Translated from Index.hr.

ZAGREB, October 21, 2018 - Ninety percent of drivers in Croatia use mobile phones while driving, 33 percent of cyclists do so while riding, and 50 percent of pedestrians have their eyes glued to the screen of their smartphone while crossing the street, a conference said in Zagreb earlier this week.

Without the VAT on excise duties, a litre of fuel would cost around 9 kuna.

Not the proudest moment for Croatian drivers.

There doesn't seem to be any rules of the road in Split, Croatia, so I thought I'd help out and write a few.

[Disclaimer: These rules have been compiled purely through observation; any resemblance to the actual rules of the road is likely coincidental.]