All these measures were included in the National Road Safety Strategy for 2011-2020.
The government will look into allowing driving certain vehicles, at specific time intervals and only on certain roads, before getting a driver’s license for the first time. The procedure will be allowed after the driver has been trained and tested, and requires the learner driver be accompanied by a driving supervisor who is accountable for safe driving practices. Also, one will be required to get a learners’ permit before getting a permanent license, which will be valid only in Romania, with certain restrictions for the driver, according to the document.
The Government also plans to ban the use of radar detectors, in a bid to crack down on “aggressive driving,” reduce the validity period of a driver’s license at a certain age, ban all-terrain vehicles on public roads, except for communal roads, and condition driving license privileges on the completion of compulsory education. The country’s new education law sets education is compulsory for 10 years of primary and gymnasium school.
Also, the money cashed from traffic violation fines will no longer go entirely to local budgets, and some of the money will go to the state budget. Also, a new rule introduces the “contraventions violation ticket,” attached to the driver’s license, to keep track of traffic fine payment. Moreover, high speeding shall be punished with longer periods of driver license suspension and higher fines, the document reads. The procedure of driver license testing will also be changed to include a “more ample” evaluation to include medical and psychological testing, as well as the appraisal of driving skill performance, not only a driving knowledge test.
The document also reads that, although Romania committed to reduce by 50% the number of car crash victims by 2010, this indicator has grown annually in ratio with the expansion of the country’s car fleet and due to the obsolete road infrastructure and the lack of coherent policies. “Currently, the economic and social losses triggered by car accidents are estimated to account for nearly 1.5% of the gross domestic product,” the document also reads.
Traffic fines applied in accordance with traffic rules are estimated at over 450 million lei (EUR103.3 million) annually, a rate of traffic fine cash-ins of only 40%, compared with over 90% in other European Union states. (RON1=EUR4.3535)