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More than 5,000 drivers have been fined for traffic law violations in four months |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Statistics of the Traffic Police show that during the first four months of the year, from January to April, 5,128 drivers have been fined for violations of the Traffic Law. There have been an average of four violations a day, or 470 drivers, for carrying children under 12 years old without the safety device. According to the Traffic Law, the fine in these cases is approximately $370, plus four negative points on the driver's license. German Marín, General Director of the Traffic Police, said that it is regrettable that adults put children's lives at risk by not using safety devices. "Recently a child was saved from dying or having serious injuries due to an accident because he had the right device for his age, weight, and height, Marin said. “We must understand that these are not luxury accessories, they are security measures." Marin added that many of the drivers' excuses for failure to have a safety device are that they don’t have the money or because the driver thinks he will take a short trip where there is no accident risk. In addition, the police report that of those 470 cases, there were 50 motorcycle driver infractions for transporting children under 5 years of age. The law prohibits a child under the age of 5 from traveling by motorcycle precisely because of the inability of such small persons to adequately support themselves on the motorcycle or the adult who transports them. In the case of this fault, the fine is the same, $370, plus four points are accumulated against the the driver's license. Regarding the use of the safety belt, the transit police reported that during the same period, were recorded 1,670 sanctions for drivers not wearing the safety belt, or allowing other people who traveled in the car not to wear it. In this case, the fine is approximately $185 but there is no penalty of points on the driver's license. With respect to motorcyclists, were issued 1,640 tickets for not wearing a helmet or wearing it badly. In addition, 919 fines were registered because the motorcyclist's companion did not wear a helmet or wore it improperly. In both cases the fine is approximately $185, and there is no penalty for points that are recorded in the driver's license. Finally, officers registered 429 fines for drivers using their cell phones while driving. In this case the same fine, $185, is issued and there are no penalty points recorded on the driver's license. The penalty points are applied against the driver for committing faults and are recorded in a database of the Road Safety Council. When the driver renews the license, other sanctions related to the number of registered faults will be applied. ------------- Is there in your country a registration system like penalty points on the driver license? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to: news@amcostarica.com |
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