The Catalan Traffic Service (SCT) estimates at around 900,000 euros the total amount of fines to foreign drivers that were not collected because the service contracted to carry out this administrative management was contested by one of the companies that lost the competition public The penalties in question have already expired.
The director of the SCT, Ramon Lamiel, provided this figure yesterday in an appearance in the Parliament’s Interior committee, in which he justified that no other service could be contracted until the resolution of the challenge. Beyond these unpaid fines, Lamiel assured that the problem has been resolved and that the penalties pending since August of last year are already being collected.
Lamiel appeared at the request of the PSC, which had requested information on the issue after Catalunya RÃ dio published in October that from the beginning of 2022 in Catalonia fines were not being collected for foreign vehicles caught by radars for speeding.
The head of the SCT explained that from January to May of this year, 32,000 fines have been notified to foreign citizens of the European Union and 50% have been collected. Lamiel detailed that 63 euros of fines are charged on average and advocated for the introduction of more effective collaboration mechanisms between international agencies so that fines can be pursued and collected.
The Director of Traffic explained, on the other hand, that until Tuesday there has been a 13.5% reduction in fatalities compared to the same period in 2019 and an 11.1% reduction compared to last year, while fatal accidents have decreased by 21.1% compared to 2019 and 12.5% ​​compared to 2022. “We can never be happy and we don’t like to express it, but we that these data reflect the work of the Mossos d’Esquadra traffic officers”, said Lamiel.
The director of the Catalan Traffic Service also explained that during the months of February and May there was a reduction in traffic accidents with fatalities compared to 2019 and 2022, and that this reduction is due to the rains of these months, which have reduced mobility.
During 2022, the province of Girona was the one that worried the most due to its high accident rate, but this year the data have improved, while in the province of Lleida the records from before the pandemic are repeated and have doubled compared to ‘last year.
Regarding the type of accidents, Ramon Lamiel assured that head-on collisions predominate and there are still worrying data about vulnerable groups, especially motorists. On the AP-7 highway, he celebrated a reduction in fatalities of almost 70% compared to 2022, which he attributed in part to “pressure from the Mossos d’Esquadra and mass controlsâ€.
