Drivers who don't pay the fines for violations recorded by traffic cams risk having the court officer knocking at their door with a penalty for evasion, which may be twice the initial fine. According to data from the Center for Traffic Control and Monitoring, 40% to 45% of drivers notified about their violations do not pay the fines.
The Center's head, Dan Chirita, told IPN that when the owner of a car is notified about a violation, he must reply whether he or someone else was at the wheel. If he doesn't reply or pay the fine within 10 days, he may receive a second letter or a call from the court officer. The latter is able to take care of the cases in pre-enforceable stages thanks to an agreement between the Ministry of the Interior and the National Union of Court Officers.
If the driver doesn't comply within 10 days, the police draw up a report and proceed to enforcement, which means the seizing of goods and the prohibition to leave the country. Dan Chirita explained that sometimes drivers receive fines of 100 lei, but end up paying over 1000 lei, because the bill for the services of the court officer adds up to the fine.
An additional aspect is the limitation period: if within 3 months after the driver is notified about the violation he doesn't receive a second letter or isn't contacted by the court officer, the fine becomes void. Chirita thinks 3 months isn't enough and proposals have been put forward to extend the limitation period to one year, so that guilty drivers could be called to account.
Vladislav Gribincea, head of the Center for Legal Resources, recommends drivers to respect traffic rules. If they do receive a notification, he thinks they should pay the fine or go to the monitoring center to clear up the situation before it comes to enforcement.
So far this year, the fines for violations recorded by traffic cams amount to about 25 million lei.
