On the occasion of the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, police officers yesterday, 20 November 2023, stepped up traffic enforcement on the entire motorway network. The police paid particular attention to vehicles that were speeding and those that did not respect safety distances.

The day-long monitoring involved officers from traffic police stations and the Specialised Traffic Control Unit, who measured the distance between vehicles from a number of overpasses. They detected 266 violations related to inadequate safety distances, but recorded only those violations that clearly posed a risk of collision.

In addition, police officers recorded 138 speeding violations and 13 overtaking violations committed by drivers of heavy goods vehicles. One driver was caught going 199 km/h on a section of the motorway where the speed limit is set at 100 km/h.

Like speeding, failing to maintain a safe distance can also be fatal

Unfortunately, inadequate safety distances are still the cause of many accidents. In fact, not maintaining a safe distance is the second most common cause of accidents after speeding. That is why police officers are stepping up their monitoring of the distances between vehicles through various activities, especially on the motorway network where speeds are high.

Increased monitoring of irresponsible drivers of goods vehicles and buses

Last Thursday, 16 November 2023, police officers from the Novo mesto, Kranj, Ljubljana and Celje traffic police stations and police officers from the Specialised Traffic Control Unit carried out traffic checks on the A2 motorway near Novo mesto, focusing on violations committed by drivers of goods vehicles and buses.

The police officers randomly selected and checked 26 goods vehicles and buses belonging to Slovenian transport companies, 14 vehicles belonging to European transport companies and 7 vehicles belonging to third country transport companies. They found a number of violations relating to the loading and securing of goods on goods vehicles, as well as violations relating to working and driving time, breaks and rest periods.

A particular feature of this traffic enforcement operation was its international dimension, with police officers from neighbouring Croatia participating as observers and traffic checks also having been carried out on the motorway between Zagreb and Split and in the area of Karlovac, where two Slovenian traffic police officers were hosted by their Croatian counterparts. International cooperation is extremely important for exchanging professional experience, knowledge and approaches – also with regard to using modern technology – and thus ensuring safety in the road transport sector.