We want to make confiscating passenger vehicles from arrogant, dangerous drivers a regular practice. If this is the practice in Zenica, if it is in Republika Srpska (RS), why can’t it also be in Sarajevo, asked Admir Katica, Minister of Internal Affairs of Canton Sarajevo (CS). He announced a meeting for today with the representatives of the Misdemeanor Department of the Municipal Court in Sarajevo, in order to implement this measure.
“It is definitely clear that in the fight against arrogant drivers who drive dangerously, against such traffic killers, the only method is confiscation of passenger motor vehicles, but – this has been repeated several times by police professionals – in communication with the Misdemeanor Department of the Municipal Court, which orders this kind of confiscation of vehicles, something is missing. We have called a meeting for tomorrow with the representatives of the Misdemeanor Department from the Municipal Court in Sarajevo. I hope we will reach a solution,” said Minister Katica yesterday.
Katica said that the Ministry is undertaking activities regarding traffic safety that are not initiated only by what is happening at the moment.
“We have been doing a lot to make citizens as safe as possible in traffic. Unfortunately, traffic accidents like this happen. It is definitely clear that these kinds of events undermine citizens’ sense of security. What we are announcing is, in fact, a continuation of the measures that, in particular, undertaken by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the CS, based on a document that we adopted last year. In that document, we fully investigated the issue of traffic delinquency in the area of the CS and proposed a set of measures and how these measures will be implemented. We have a coordinator for the implementation, Mr. Semir Sut, who is a former police commissioner in the Zenica-Doboj Canton and who obtained results in this matter. That’s why we need such a practice here as well, and that was my reason last year why I did it,” said the minister of the CS Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Answering the question of how it is possible that the driver, who caused the accident in which a young girl was killed on Friday, had unpaid misdemeanor fines in the amount of about two thousand BAM while the majority of citizens bear the consequences in case of non-payment of one fine, Katica said that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is a law enforcement agency that applies the law as it is.
“We point out those gaps that need to be improved in order to be more efficient in our work. We have submitted such proposals to the Federal Ministry of Justice, regarding the Law on Misdemeanors, and also to the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), which is the adopter, proposer of the Law on the Basics of Traffic Safety. When we mention increasing sanctions, prison sentences, and monetary sanctions, these are the addresses that should do it. I was in contact with the Minister of Transport and Communications, he told me that about ninety days ago he initiated the procedure to amend this law and that this law will be passed during this year. I eagerly wait for it, that we apply it, here in the area of CS, in order to be more efficient in our work. There are so many gaps that we have pointed out, which dull the edge of our efficiency,” stated Katica.
