One step on the gas, a moment of inattention, a glance at the phone or something else, statistics have recorded black numbers - Montenegro has lost as many as 44 people on its roads in just nine months this year.
"That's a 20 percent reduction, and from that aspect we can certainly be satisfied because we have a reduction, but the number of 44 fatalities is still high, so in general we cannot be satisfied with the traffic situation," said Ilija Janjušević from the Police Directorate (UP).
On the other hand, during the tourist season, the number of traffic accidents increased, killing 23 people, nine of whom were foreign citizens.
The UP explains that accidents most often occur where there are the most traffic participants.
"We have the highest number of accidents on roads and busy boulevards," Janjušević points out.
And they should have been monitored long ago by stationary radar systems, whose main task is to record the most serious violations, such as speeding and overtaking across a solid line, even in locations where police patrols are physically unable to control traffic, such as curves or blind sections of the road.
The system will record violations, which will be automatically processed, and then the negligent driver will receive a notification about the violation committed and the fine they need to pay.
And for that to happen, we've been waiting a full decade.
"Montenegro marked these locations as critical 10 or more years ago, 72 if I'm not mistaken, where the most serious accidents with the most serious consequences occurred, 10 years after the marking, we don't have those radars. They don't exist because there is no political will, it's so easy to postpone, here it will be, and here it is next year, we have listened to those promises and stories," said journalist Marko Mišić.
Now we have a new deadline.
"We expect to have complete project documentation by the end of the year, all the conditions for issuing a public call, and we realistically expect the call to be issued by the end of the year. We expect to have the first devices in 2026," says Janjušević.
And where police can reach and approach, they have sanctioned as many as 145 drivers this year, 25 percent more than in the same period last year. They are most often issued fines for speeding, not wearing seat belts, driving under the influence of alcohol, and recently, increasingly, for driving under the influence of drugs.
"Every life lost is a catastrophe and a tragedy," Mišić points out.
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