Azerbaijan, Baku, 13 May / corr. Trend K. Zarbaliyeva/ The toughening of punishments for traffic rule violations led to the drop in the number of violations by the drivers, Ramiz Zeynalov, the head of the State Central Traffic Police Department at the Interior Ministry of Azerbaijan said to media.
According to Zeynalov, the number of dead and injured during car accidents has dropped in 2008 as compared to 2007.
"The majority of drivers observe traffic rules due to the higher fines. The drivers do not want to be fined," he said.
In early 2008, changes were made to the Bill on Road Traffic and Administrative Violations Code, the punishment for traffic rule violations were toughened and the volume of fines were increased.
During the 1st quarter of 2008, the traffic rule violations and use of vehicles dropped by 4% and the number of accidents resulting in death - by 15%. A total of 176 people died in car accidents.
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