Tomorrow, 1 July 2011, the police will start applying new traffic legislation. To make the transition to new provisions more citizen-friendly, police officers today informed road users all over Slovenia of new arrangements.
According to BoŔtjan Smolej, a representative of the Traffic Police Division of the General Police Directorate, the police wish to familiarise citizens with the new legislation. "Regardless of the fact that the new traffic legislation is in the remit of the Ministry of Transport, which is also responsible for interpreting the new regulations, the police have decided to inform the public of the new rules and manner of their implementation as it will be police officers citizens they will be dealing with if they break the rules. To make a transition to new regulations easier, we will try to explain to road users in a comprehensible way the responsibilities of the police as well as the changes that will affect those who break the rules."
According to Smolej, neither police tactics nor methods will change. "Drivers will get exactly the same treatment as before. Initially officers will be more lenient, especially in case of violations where officers have the option of just warning the driver. However, we are bound by the legislation, which clearly determines when police officers can issue warnings and when not."
Despite being very busy, officers in Novo mesto are happy to answer questions on road traffic rules.
Today police officers were active all over the country, acquainting road users with the impending changes and advising them to drive carefully. At temporary information points they also answered questions about new police responsibilities and powers.
In Koper, there was a great deal of media interest (Photo: Danijel Cek).
The officers of Nova Gorica Police Directorate had their hands full.
At all information points all over Slovenia police officers were joined by representatives of the Public Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for Traffic Safety and in Ljubljana also by city wardens.
At some information points there were also representatives of the Public Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for Traffic Safety...
... and in Ljubljana also city wardens.
Together we advised citizens and answered their questions. For better understanding of the new legislation, the Agency for Traffic Safety issued a leaflet.
At the end of 2010 the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia passed four new laws on traffic safety, namely:
The basic goals of the new traffic legislation are as follows:
- to reduce the number of fatal accidents and casualties,
- to increase the safety of all road users, especially the most vulnerable,
- to effect a change in attitude to road traffic by means of a rehabilitation programme
- to immediately eliminate the worst offenders from traffic and expeditious procedures.
"Since we can only achieve greater traffic safety together, police officers urge all road users to observe road traffic rules and to adapt their driving to road conditions. In particularly, be tolerant and cautious and respect other road users. In this way, many a life can be saved," added Smolej.
