Road transport

A police officer was arrested Wednesday in the Thessaly region on bribery charges. 

According to police, the arrest followed a complaint from a driver, who said the officer demanded and accepted 100 euros to avoid issuing a traffic ticket. 

The officer was taken into custody and brought before a prosecutor.

You’ve started your commute to work. Your mobile app tells you it will take 1 hour and 45 minutes to reach your destination. Athens resembles a vast parking lot. All major roads, even neighborhood streets, are clogged with traffic, and you long for the days when the same journey took only 20 minutes.

Traffic regulations will be in place in Athens on Thursday, due to the celebration of the city’s patron saint and the procession of the Holy Icon of St. Dionysius of Areopagitos.

Trains overflowing with the city's denizens and tourists. Buses clanking along as they shift from first to second gear or idling on streets bottle-necked by a crash up ahead, a protest rally, fans of a sports event, roadworks - there's always something. Traffic jams stretching for kilometers are back. 

Specifically, on Wednesday, September 18, vehicles collided near the KTEL Kifisou area in the direction towards Piraeus.

In a second incident, two vehicles collided on Kifisou Avenue near Iera Odos, in the direction towards Lamia.

Road accidents in Greece are increasingly taking on the characteristics of a war between the pedestrian and the driver. Data from the traffic police confirm what we experience every day. In the first five months of 2024, the number of pedestrians hit by a moving vehicle in the country came to 653, of whom 27 lost their lives and another 26 were seriously injured.

If there’s one accessory common to all modern cars, it’s cup holders. “And now, what will happen to the cup holders that will remain empty of coffee?” Greek drivers wonder in light of the new Road Code provision, which imposes a €100 fine and a 30-day driving license suspension for those who drive while drinking coffee. However, this is the least of the concerns for “reckless” drivers.

A 55-year-old driver was arrested in the northern port city of Thessaloniki over the weekend after he injured a traffic officer with his vehicle.

If you are selling your car and tamper with the odometer to reduce the mileage in order to secure a higher price, you are committing fraud. This can result in both a prison sentence ranging from 6 months to 10 years (with the latter applying if the car’s value is high) and a financial penalty.

In Italy, a Bulgarian truck driver was penalized for failing to comply with European regulations by driving for two consecutive weeks without rest. The incident occurred during a police check in Naples, where authorities discovered that the 51-year-old driver, employed by a Bulgarian transport company, had not taken the required weekly rest period.