Post Staff Writer
 Nailed: A traffic cop flags down a speeder on a Kyiv street. With traffic burgeoning, the city is raising speeding fines tenfold. (Andry Horb, photo) |
Raising fines ten-fold will deter Kyiv motorists� need for speed, Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko announced on Jan. 30. Noting that more than 600,000 vehicles now zip around Kyiv�s thoroughfares and bridges, Omelchenko said safety is his primary motivation in raising the minimum fine for speeding. |
�If the city council agrees, we will carry out an experiment,� Omelchenko told Ukrainian News. �The capital�s fine should be Hr 80, not Hr 8.�
Currently, the official fine for speeding in Kyiv is Hr 8.60. Omelchenko said the fine is too low to get people to slow down.
On main roads, Kyiv�s speed limit is 60 kilometers an hour. In residential areas, the limit is 20 kilometers an hour, unless otherwise noted.
In 2003, more than 2,323 traffic accidents were reported in Kyiv, resulting in 271 deaths and 2,557 injuries, 12 percent of them serious.
According to Omelchenko, half the accidents were the result of excessive speed.
Last November, however, DAI spokesperson Mykola Yevdokimov announced that only 10 percent of accidents were the result of excessive speed, while eight percent were the result of cars crossing into the opposing traffic lane, and seven percent were the result of alcohol.
Yevdokimov said that 51 percent of accidents were pedestrians� fault.
Also on Jan. 30, Omelchenko criticized the Prosecutor General for banning the payment of fines on the spot.
At the beginning of January, the Prosecutor General made the confiscation of traffic violators� driver�s licenses mandatory. Motorists would have their licenses returned once fines for their violations were paid in court. Omelchenko said he preferred the old system, where drivers paid their fines on the spot. That system was criticized in the past for being open to corruption.