Croatia proposes reducing speed measurement tolerance

A new proposal for the Ordinance on Measuring and Technical Requirements for Speed Meters in Road Traffic is currently undergoing public consultation in Croatia until October 19. The proposal aims to reduce the safety margin, or tolerance, applied during speed measurements, which would result in higher fines for drivers.

Under current regulations, a 3 km/h margin is subtracted for speeds up to 50 km/h, a 10 km/h margin for speeds between 51 and 100 km/h, and a 10 percent reduction for speeds exceeding 100 km/h. The new proposal would reduce the tolerance for speeds between 51 and 100 km/h from 10 km/h to just 5 km/h. For example, a driver recorded at 86 km/h in a 50 km/h zone would be penalized for 81 km/h instead of 76 km/h, potentially increasing a fine from 130 euros to 390 euros.

Data from the Ministry of the Interior shows that fixed speed cameras are responsible for a majority of speeding violations. In the previous year, fixed devices recorded 200,137 out of 320,046 total speeding offenses (62 percent). In the first eight months of this year, fixed devices recorded 145,129 out of 226,302 offenses (64 percent). Currently, Croatia utilizes 206 fixed cameras deployed across 807 locations.