New traffic law will fast track penalty system

CENTRAL Government yesterday gave the green light for a new Traffic law which will speed up the rate at which penalties and fines can be applied.
New features include the possibility of guilty parties receiving notification of impending fines by e-mail, a reduction in the number of infractions of the law which give rise to points being deducted from a driving licence, and discounts of up to 50 percent if fines are paid in full within the first 20 days of their being imposed.

The majority of measures will be introduced within six months of the legislation being published in the Official State Bulletin. However those issues which benefit drivers, such as the aspect of fine reductions in the event of fast payment, will become operational the day after publication. Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said yesterday that the new “high tech” law will make it more difficult to avoid being fined because of having to wait for a long-drawn out bureaucratic process to be finalised.

However, the new law has not had the support of everyone in Central Government. The Partido Popular (PP) spokesman on the Road Safety Committee, Federico Souviron, described the move as “barbaric” and said that when the PP get in to power, it will be removed from the statute book.