Last week, the police turned their attention to traffic safety throughout Latvia and monitored driving speed. A 24-hour speed-control marathon was held on Friday.
Smilga said that about 1,650 speed offenders were stopped by police, while a total of 12,000 offenses were recorded by technical means. Last year, the speed-control week recorded about 7,000 violations, Smilga said.
Smilga said there were several cases where drivers were caught at a speed of 150-160 kilometers per hour. During the cold season, the maximum permitted speed on any road section of Latvia is 90 km/h.
Approximately 90% of all offenses are so-called “minor offenses”, 10-20 kilometers per hour above the permitted speed, Smilga said, indicating that unfortunately, it is still acceptable for many Latvia's drivers.