Road traffic management

“They’re just kids, let them ride.” That excuse won’t hold anymore. Under the new Road Traffic Code, parents must be more cautious about allowing their children to use electric scooters. Scooters with a top speed exceeding 6 km/h are now banned for minors under 15.

With the Thessaloniki metro's inauguration out of the way, the next cause of celebration we have to look forward to is the installation of new traffic cameras, which the government has vowed to do by the summer of 2025.

Istanbul's notorious traffic congestion has worsened this week as heavy rainfall continues to plague the megacity, leaving residents struggling with major delays and disrupting daily activities across the city.

Vehicles moved slowly in certain points of the province due to intense rain in the early morning of Dec. 4, while traffic came to a standstill in some other areas.

The requirement for taxis to be equipped with emergency buttons, along with vehicle tracking and monitoring systems, has come to the fore once more following the publication of a regulation amending the highway traffic law in the Official Gazette.

The government on Thursday unveiled a new plan to install advanced traffic cameras nationwide to improve road safety and enforce traffic laws more effectively. The initiative seeks to reduce the number of accidents, particularly in urban areas where traffic fatalities have risen despite improvements in highway safety. 

The caretaker government has approved a draft amendment to the Road Traffic Act, as announced by the Council of Ministers. One of the key changes is the removal of the requirement for the "Civil Liability" insurance sticker on car windshields, which will no longer be mandatory starting next year.

Temporary traffic restrictions will be in place on Vouliagmenis Avenue, a key route from central Athens to the southern seaside suburbs, starting Saturday and continuing until November 22 due to ongoing roadwork.

The measures, which will affect traffic 24 hours a day, will be implemented in stages. 

In a sweeping move to curb traffic violations, Athens will install 388 cameras at major intersections across the Attica region to capture red-light violations, aiming to reduce accidents and enhance road safety.

Bulgarian taxi drivers are set to stage a national protest on November 20, planning to halt traffic for about an hour in major cities across the country, as well as on highways and roads leading to border crossings. The demonstration aims to draw attention to what drivers describe as a drastic surge in mandatory "Civil Liability" insurance costs, which they say have increased tenfold.

Authorities in Paris have begun to restrict vehicle traffic in a large section of the city center, announcing that fines will be enforced starting in spring 2025.

The ban affects four municipal districts (arrondissements, in french) in the heart of the French capital.