The number of drivers who pay fines for moving violations recoded by road traffic surveillance cameras has increased, but remains low compared with the number of notification letters sent to drivers. After a contravention report is compiled based on the letter, the fine payment rate exceeds 90%, but the identification of drivers remains a problem.  

Asked by IPN to provide details, director of the Ministry of the Interior’s Information Technology Service Andrian Șova said a mechanism used to identify drivers who violate the Road Traffic Regulations is the e-data application used by patrol inspectors. With the assistance of this application, a police officer can see if the person committed violations by introducing the car’s license plate number in the system through the mobile phone or another device. This happens while patrolling, within particular operations. If the driver is identified, a contravention report with the specification of the fine is compiled.

Andrian Șova noted that the statute of limitations for such type of violations earlier was three months, but was now extended to one year. In the 12-month period, it is less improbable that a driver will not be subject to checks in traffic.

The official said that a number of measures are taken to optimize the process of identifying moving traffic violations and of notifying drivers of these violations so that they pay fines. It is planned to extend the video traffic surveillance system and to automate the process so as to maximally avoid the human factor. They are also working on a mobile application that will enable drivers to see if they have fines for moving violations and the fines could be paid online with the assistance of a digital signature.

The National Patrol Inspector last year compiled 163,000 contravention reports, 54% of which were generated by the automated system. The paid fines totaled almost 56 million lei.