To enhance the effectiveness of the members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Canton Sarajevo (CS) – Police Administration in the field of traffic safety, improving the safety of traffic participants, and primarily implement a more effective punitive policy with a deterrent effect on offenders, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the CS has requested the support of the CS Government to endorse initiatives for amendments to laws regulating the aforementioned.
At the session held on February 29th, the CS Government accepted the initiatives and proposed amendments and additions to the Law on the Basics of Traffic Safety on Roads in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), as well as the Law on Offenses of the Federation of BiH (FBiH), and forwarded them to the Ministry of Communications and Transport of BiH and the FBiH Ministry of Justice for appropriate action.
Regarding the amendments and additions to the Law on the Basics of Traffic Safety on Roads in BiH, the Police Administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the CS formed a Working Group in December 2022 with the task of prioritizing the revision and analysis of this law.
The Working Group proposed amendments and additions that, among other things, include temporary measures for confiscating motor vehicles, the procedure for detaining drivers regarding Article 224, paragraph (two) of the same law, defining a special category of vehicles such as electric scooters, the conditions under which they may participate in traffic, and their use in traffic, as well as aligning penal provisions with the current situation to ensure that the prescribed sanction achieves the purpose of punishment.
Simultaneously, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the CS-Police Administration has carried out a series of activities in the past period to better implement the Law on Offenses of the FBiH, and accordingly, they have proposed amendments and additions to both the mentioned law and the enactment of sub-legal acts.
The proposed amendments would achieve a better rate of collection of imposed fines, taking into account that Article 27 of the Regulation on Driver’s Licenses stipulates that after determining that the period of driving ban has expired, the competent authority calls the driver to return the deposited driver’s license. Therefore, regardless of whether that driver has fines in the fine registry, their driver’s license must be returned to them. The proposed amendments would also relate to the procedure for returning driver’s licenses to individuals from whom the driver’s license was confiscated, in accordance with Article 224 of the Law on the Basics of Traffic Safety on Roads in BiH (driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs, etc.), which would not only increase the rate of fine collection but also represent special prevention, thereby increasing the level of traffic safety, Akta reports.
E.Dz.