D o the police get a direct share of the money collected from traffic penalties?
Col. Einollah Jahani, social and cultural deputy of Iran police (NAJA), says no.
“Police don’t get any money collected from traffic tickets and the entire amount is deposited with the state treasury.”
He dismissed reports that traffic police should “issue a specific number of tickets each day in return for financial incentives. This is not true at all.”
“Traffic police should do their duty which is dealing with violations of rules by traffic offenders. We monitor traffic to determine whether any offenses occur. So policemen are not derelict in their duty,” Khabaronline quoted him as saying.
However, given that long hours of work in the streets can make cops fatigued and tired, “we are making efforts to record traffic violations by using modern electronic cameras and equipment.” Therefore, electronic cameras will conduct surveillance instead of policemen in the near future.
As per the March 15, 2011 law on traffic violations, all revenue accrued from traffic tickets should be deposited with the state treasury from which, annually, a certain percentage is allocated to municipalities, the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development and the traffic police.
According to the law, 60% of the revenue from traffic fines is given to the Roads and Urban Development Ministry to be invested on standardization of road equipment, road safety and maintenance, installation and maintenance of traffic signs and safety equipment, construction of skywalks, improving rural roads, etc.
Equipment
Additionally, 15% of the fines collected should be paid to the traffic police to be spent on providing specialized equipment for police and employment of new technologies and 5% should be allocated to raise people’s awareness on traffic safety and individual responsibility through cultural programs.
The remaining 20% should go for third party insurance in road accidents.Third-party insurance is purchased by the insured (first party) from an insurance company (second party) for protection against another party’s claims (third party).
In the first four months of the current year (started March 21), $54 million was collected from traffic fines in Tehran alone.
Fines can help check traffic offences. Cash fines, social and legal deprivations such as license revocation and insurance cuts are penalties that traffic offenders in other countries face.
