After a traffic accident with fatal consequences that occurred in Sarajevo at the end of May 2023, which was caused by a driver driving at a speed significantly higher than the speed limit, under the influence of alcohol and without passing a driving test, a discussion began in the domestic public about ways to improve safety of all traffic participants. Although there is a legal regulation that governs this problem at all levels in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the essence of the problem is reflected in low and insufficiently strict penalties and poor cooperation between competent institutions that shift responsibility from one to another. Meanwhile, accidents involving reckless drivers without a driver’s license continue to occur.
With this analysis, the Public Debate seeks to point out a problem that needs to be solved urgently and systematically and to take preventive action, in order to influence the reduction of criminal offenses and traffic violations, but also to preserve the lives of citizens.
Statistics on the number of traffic violations
According to data from the European Commission on road safety, an average of 44 people per million inhabitants were killed in traffic accidents in 2021 in the countries of the European Union (EU). In BiH in the same year, 255 people died, which is 72 people per million inhabitants. If our country were a member of the EU, that would put it at the very top of European “black statistics” – Croatia has the same number, and only Romania, Latvia and Bulgaria are ahead. Western countries, such as Germany and the Netherlands, have many times fewer deaths caused by traffic accidents.
How traffic safety is regulated in BiH and the region
Traffic is regulated by a multitude of regulations, some of which provide for sanctions for perpetrators of misdemeanors and criminal offenses related to the violation of traffic safety. In BiH, these are primarily the Law on the Basics of Road Traffic Safety in BiH (ZOOBS), entity and criminal legislation of the Brcko District of BiH (I, II and III), but also special regulations regulating special aspects of road or other forms of traffic, such as the Law on Traffic Management in the Canton Sarajevo (CS).
The main difference between traffic offenses and criminal offenses is the consequence. Failure to comply with traffic regulations in itself is a misdemeanor, but if there are serious consequences, then it is a criminal offense. For example, overtaking across a solid line is a traffic violation, but if it causes a traffic accident, it is a criminal offense.
Although the penalties stipulated by the criminal laws of the entities and Brcko District of BiH for traffic crimes vary from minor (up to one year in prison for recklessly endangering traffic) to severe (ten years in prison or more for serious crimes against public traffic safety), the criminal policy is generally mild.
Urgent system changes
BiH is highly ranked in the number of traffic accidents with serious consequences and it is an indisputable fact that the problem of traffic safety is a pressing problem in the country. What affects it are the noted deficiencies in the regulations themselves that regulate traffic safety, but also failures in their practical application. Taking positive examples from countries in the region and harmonizing with the legislation of the EU, BiHshould, as a matter of urgency, take a more serious approach to changes in regulations concerning all participants in traffic and regulating their safety.
Responsibility for omissions should not be shifted from one authority to another, but there should be a systematic approach to changes in regulations applied by courts, prosecutors’ offices, the police and, most importantly, road users themselves. Preventive action, in the sense of tightening sanctions for misdemeanors and criminal acts, control of misdemeanor and criminal records and the use of their data, establishment of a system of support and cooperation between competent institutions, and the creation and implementation of a unified policy for traffic safety, is one of the ways to prevent tragic traffic accidents, murders and other serious consequences that, among other things, arise as a result of the current system for protecting the safety of traffic participants.
E.Dz.
