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Albania postpones implementation of road safety laws

Xinhua, August 30, 2016 Adjust font size:

Traffic police here announced Tuesday that new penalties will start being applied starting from Sept. 5 for drivers who don't fasten their seat belts and for those who don't put the children under the age of 12 in appropriate safety devices.

The implementation of such road safety measures has been postponed to Sept. 5 in order to give more time to drivers to adjust to the new legislation, police sources said.

According to traffic police, two in seven seriously-wounded persons in car accidents hadn't fastened their seat belts.

The Albanian road code has undergone many legal changes to increase road safety.

The latest legal amendments were approved in April last year and entered in force on January 21 of this year.

Those who run red lights will face a fine varying from 20,000 leks (163.15 U.S. dollars) to 30,000 leks. If such violation is repeated twice within two years, then the police confiscate the driving license for nine months to one year.

Those who don't wear seat belt will be fined 15,000 leks while those who keep children in their car unsecured, can lose their driving license for a period of up to one year.

The World Bank published a report showing Albania has an average of 84.7 deaths per year for 100,000 vehicles. The economic cost of road accidents in Albania is on average 130 million euros a year, or nearly 1.5 percent of the gross domestic product, the report added. Enditem