About one in 15 motorcyclists stopped during Easter week traffic police checks was fined for not wearing a crash helmet, authorities said Tuesday amid continued implementation of an unprecedented road safety drive.
Police said more than 15,300 motorcycles and e-scooters were stopped and 1,070 people were fined – 996 drivers and 76 passengers. Out of the drivers, ten were delivery riders.
Most of the violations were recorded in the Greater Athens region – 434 – followed by the administrative region of western Greece, and Crete. Northern Greece appeared on the whole more law-abiding, with only 68 fines issued in Thessaloniki and four in Western Macedonia.
Over the past few months, police have not only launched but also kept up the strictest road safety campaign in decades, focusing on drink-driving, running red lights, failure to wear seat belts or helmets and talking on the phone while driving.
That’s in combination with a government overhaul of the highway code that provides for much harsher fines and penalties. First-time offenders caught without crash helmets are fined €350 and lose their driving licenses for a month, while both fines and penalties rise for repeat offenses.