The changes to the Road Traffic Code, among others, were mentioned by the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Mr. Kostas Karamanlis.
In particular, answering a topical question about the changes to the KOK, Mr. Karamanlis noted that in the National Strategic Plan for Road Safety for the period 2021 – 2030, an “Integrated Violation Management System” is foreseen.
“Our goal is not for sentences to have a blindly punitive nature. Instead, we look to driver compliance. That’s why the penalties will be fair and will correspond to the seriousness and dangerousness of each violation”, stressed Mr. Karamanlis and added: “In this context, an important change is that the penalties will mainly concern the driver and not the vehicle. That is, there will be a fine, driver’s license revocation, penalty points, etc., and not a driving license revocation. The driver will be punished, not the car.”
The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport emphasized that the penalties will be stricter for violations that can cause a serious accident, such as breaking a red light, speeding, illegal overtaking or driving under the influence of alcohol, etc.
He explained that in the past there was downward equalization, meaning that these serious offenses were punished more or less the same as less serious offences, while at the same time there was the phenomenon of some punishments being excruciating, resulting in law enforcement having second thoughts about imposing them.
“Here we need to find what we discovered in this country but we do not apply: The measure”, commented Mr. Karamanlis.
