It is precisely from a drone's eye in the sky that it is best seen that trucks driving too close to each other contribute to dangerous overtaking maneuvers.
For a motorist, the price of being over-hasty is a fine of 80 euros. Penalty points on the license are decided by the Road Safety Directorate (CSDD).
Speeding is still the main offense on the Liepāja highway, but not the only one. Often drivers choose to overtake those in front by crossing the solid central line.
"The highway in Liepāja is becoming more and more busy. The highway is as wide as it is, and we pay serious attention to not overtaking in places where it is not allowed. This creates additional danger. There have been serious collisions [as a result of this] just this year," says Mārtiņš Brižs, Chief Inspector of the Response Department of the South Kurzeme precinct of the State Police.
"It's for a reason that the continuous line is drawn there. It's drawn because the section is curved, has poor visibility and is dangerous," adds Jānis Liepa, Chief Inspector of the Response Department.
A real death trap is also created when, when overtaking, it turns out that there is no distance between the trucks as stipulated by the road traffic rules, and the driver simply has no chance to take his correct lane again. The police promise to monitor these situations as well.
"When drivers of heavy vehicles drive in a column and do not observe the required distance [apart from each other], and the speed is lower than the permitted one, dangerous situations arise. They drive into the opposite lane and cannot overtake, there is no distance. We pay increased attention to this," says Brižs.
Drivers too have also observed that overtaking maneuvers here are particularly dangerous. "It seems that [the highway] is too busy. It's still okay until Dobele, but after that it's difficult to overtake. Lots of accidents," said driver Raimonds, when asked by LTV.
The number of road traffic accidents is also reduced by controlling the average driving speed. That is why average speed control radars will be installed on several sections of this highway in the near future.
Drivers should expect that checks on the Liepāja highway will be more and more frequent.
