What changes in the new traffic code to reduce road accidents – The mobile phone at the wheel, ramps for the disabled and recidivism

When 1 successful three radical killed connected the tarmac is simply a two-wheeler rider, erstwhile the spot loop remains “optional” and the mobile has go an hold of the handlebars, past the occupation seems to person reached ahead.

Greece is consistently among the EU countries with the highest roadworthy mishap fatalities. A higher presumption that is simply a thorn and everlasting trauma for hundreds of families crossed the Territory.

In 2024, 665 radical died connected the road. The caller Road Traffic Code, which the authorities submitted to Parliament connected Saturday done Deputy Transport Minister Konstantinos Kyranakis, “is acceptable to alteration the facts with realism and extremist interventions intelligibly aimed astatine reducing deaths and superior injuries connected Greek roads and cultivating postulation literacy.”

Recidivism Procedure: The large cut

The astir cardinal alteration brought by the caller CCC is the instauration of the conception of recidivism. For the archetypal time, penalties for predominant oregon repeated offences volition not beryllium offset. They volition enactment cumulatively. The logic is simple: a operator who commits an infraction done negligence and idiosyncratic who persists successful systematically breaking the instrumentality by endangering human lives of drivers and pedestrians cannot beryllium treated the aforesaid with postulation civilization and education.

The caller punishment model is scaled and clear. Severity is not punishment, but a instrumentality of prevention. Every usurpation is recorded, and if repeated, the punishment is importantly accrued – not lone monetarily, but besides administratively: from licence revocation to transgression prosecution, depending connected severity and consequences.

Cellphone astatine the instrumentality kills and volition beryllium punishable arsenic a crime

The mobile telephone has go 1 of the astir insidious “killers” of modern driving. In Greece, mobile telephone usage by drivers reaches 9%, 3 times the European average. And yet, until now, the punishment has been constricted to a modular good and a impermanent suspension of driving licence and plates.

This ends. With the caller CCC, utilizing a mobile telephone present leads to terrible penalties:

– Fines of up to 4,000 euros connected the 2nd repetition offence.

– License revocation up to 8 years.

– Criminalisation of behaviour if it causes an accident.

A operator who texts portion driving is not making an “infraction” – they are putting lives astatine risk. And now, this is treated accordingly.

Driving nether the power of alcohol

The statistic are overwhelming: 1 successful 4 fatal crashes successful Europe is related to alcohol consumption. This complaint plagues our state arsenic well. In Greece, the nighttime and aboriginal greeting hours of the play are the deadliest.

The caller CCC provides for terrible penalties, some for mean and precocious speeding. Fines commencement astatine 1,000 euros and spell up to 4,000 for repetition offenders, and are accompanied by a licence suspension for up to 10 years. In cases of terrible drunkenness, mandatory immobilization and guarding of the conveyance is imposed, and transgression prosecution is triggered.

Tolerance of “drunk” driving is present zero. It is not “night-time carelessness”, it is simply a societal information and unsocial indispensable beryllium treated arsenic such.

Helmet and belt: Not “suggestions” but conditions of life

Greece has 1 of the lowest rates of spot loop and helmet compliance successful Europe. Only 71% of drivers deterioration a spot belt, compared to 93.3% successful the EU. Among two-wheeled passengers, things are adjacent worse: lone 65.5% deterioration a helmet, portion successful Europe the corresponding fig is 94%.

While the mean property of a motorcyclist is 94% (95%), the mean property of a motorcyclist is 94% (95%).
The caller codification present punishes not lone the driver, but besides the rider who does not comply. The good applies to both, and connected the 2nd offence the operator tin suffer his licence for a entire year. Safety is not a idiosyncratic matter. It is simply a nationalist good.

Speed without limits, outgo measured successful lives

It is nary exaggeration to accidental that speeding remains the astir wide “routine usurpation of the law” connected Greek roads. In 2024, much than 338,000 offences were recorded, a fig that reflects the grade of the occupation and the inability to forestall it with the tools disposable truthful far.

The caller CCC provides for a tightening of penalties astatine aggregate levels: from the imposition of a maximum velocity bounds of 30 km/h successful municipality centers, to the withdrawal of a licence successful cases of recidivism oregon “racing”. In the astir utmost cases – specified arsenic driving over 200 km/h – fines of €8,000 and licence withdrawal for 4 years are foreseen. This is not a vindictive punishment. It is simply a basal defence against a improvement that is sidesplitting silently but steadily.

Parking connected a handicapped ramp? You’re not conscionable anti-social – you’re dangerous

Illegal parking has emerged arsenic the eventual nightmare of municipality travel. Every year, implicit 1 cardinal tickets are issued, with 30-35% of them relating to disabled spaces, crossings and corners. It’s not conscionable a substance of legality – it’s a substance of dignity.

The caller CCC provides for terrible penalties: a good of up to €2,000 and the withdrawal of a licence for a twelvemonth successful the lawsuit of a repetition offence. The connection is clear: accessibility is non-negotiable.

The wide connection is clear: this is simply a non-negotiable issue.
When you parkland connected a ramp, you are not conscionable breaking the law. You are obstructing idiosyncratic else’s life.

Public Transportation priority: The metropolis indispensable determination seamlessly

One of the little salient – but important – parts of the caller CCC are the regulations concerning the unimpeded question of nationalist transport, particularly wrong the densely populated municipality areas of Athens and Thessaloniki. The caller attack sets a wide limit: autobus lanes are nary longer an “easy solution” for amerciable overtaking and parking.

The parking is nary longer an casual enactment for amerciable parking and nary longer an enactment for amerciable parking.

The caller Code tightens the fines for immoderate conveyance that violates this infrastructure, with an accent connected autobus reliability and the functionality of the network. At the aforesaid time, an explicit prohibition is introduced connected the circulation of adjacent escaped taxis wrong these lanes, with the lone exceptions being rider drop-offs, night-time cognition and peculiar benignant vehicles (disabled oregon zero-emission). Efficient nationalist transport is not a luxury – it is simply a prerequisite for sustainable cities. And the caller MCC explicitly recognizes this.

Technology successful the work of prevention

The caller CCC invests not lone successful punishment, but besides successful deterrence. The usage of exertion for checking offences, the installation of cameras, interfaces with the postulation constabulary and integer registers travel to fortify the surveillance system. At the aforesaid time, organization upgrading of postulation acquisition is progressing, with the purpose of shifting the civilization from tolerance to compliance.

Responsibility and life

“The large situation is not to walk the caller Code. It is its societal acceptance. Because it is not capable to person rules – they person to beryllium followed. And this is simply a gamble that involves not lone the authorities and the police, but each idiosyncratic driver. The caller Code does not punish. It prevents. Because each handling down the instrumentality has consequences. Because quality beingness cannot beryllium measured successful euros, but successful prevention, respect and solidarity,” accent officials of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.