The government has approved a revised version of traffic fines following proposals from the ministries of justice, interior and road and urban development, and the Law Enforcement Forces drawing on articles 20 and 21 of the traffic law.
Based on the new rules, penalties have been raised to a maximum of four million rials ($134). The amounts range from four million rials for driving under the influence of psychedelic drugs or alcohol to 400,000 rials ($13) for failure to carry vehicle inspection documents, the Persian daily ‘Iran’ reported.
A member of the Majlis Judicial and Legal Commission, Ali Jalilian, however maintained that the increase in penalties alone “will do nothing to reduce traffic offences unless driving manners is nurtured and the road infrastructure improved.”
So long as drivers have to put up with “narrow and clogged roads and lack of parking space, traffic violations will continue and the high slabs of fines will not elevate the problem,” he said.
More should be invested on education to encourage people to respect the law.
In addition to fines, deterrent measures have been enforced so the wealthy who are not affected by cash penalties will abide by the driving rules as well.
Penalty Points
The penalty or demerit point system introduced in the 2011 traffic law has been far more effective than imposing heavy fines to check road traffic offences and reckless driving. Under the system, each traffic offense invites a number of negative points. For instance, driving under the influence of liquor and at a dangerous speed incurs 10 penalty points each.
If the total points on a person’s record equal or exceed 30, the court can suspend the driver’s license for three months and if a driver gets more than 25 negative points the second time, the license is suspended for six months. In the third consecutive case of negligence, the driving license is revoked and a fresh driving license issued only after passing a new training program and paying a penalty $300.
When a driver doesn’t commit any traffic offenses for a six-month period between two violations, the negative points are declared void; but not for drivers who have reached the 25 penalty point ceiling for the second time. Licenses of more than 550 drivers were suspended in the previous year under the system.
The new revision in traffic fines was approved on January 11 and will take effect as soon as the legal formalities are completed.
Iran has one of the highest rates of road accidents in the world. Most of the accidents are due to violation of traffic lane rules, rash, reckless and negligent driving, dilapidated vehicles and poor road conditions.
