More and more drivers caught by the radars of the e-SIGUR system are trying to avoid sanctions by invoking the same explanation: that they were not behind the wheel, but their wives. Since the beginning of this year alone, 32 drivers have indicated their spouses as the people who allegedly drove the cars at the time of the contraventions.
However, the strategy does not help them escape sanctions. According to the Romanian Police, the e-SIGUR system is capable of accurately identifying drivers, the images captured by the cameras being clear enough to allow detailed checks.
“Including if the owner of the registered vehicle is a male person, and he declares that at the time of registration of the respective violation, the vehicle was driven by another male person, following the verification, it can be identified whether the person reported as having driven the vehicle at that time is one and the same as the one in the data transmitted”said Radu Gâtan, deputy director of the Road Directorate, according to Observer News.
The system works automatically: the radar placed on the tripod registers speed violations, and the data is transmitted to the e-SIGUR database. Afterwards, the owners of the vehicles receive a notification at home through which they are obliged to communicate who was behind the wheel at the time of committing the offence.
Lawyers point out that providing false information can have far more serious consequences than a simple speeding ticket.
“Instead of a simple fine, you find yourself with a criminal record and you have to go and meet the undersigned and you and your wife and other people if they are used”explained the lawyer Cătălin Crăciunescu.
According to official data, since the beginning of the year the e-SIGUR system has registered approximately 51,000 speed limit violations. Most were less than 20km/h over the legal limit, but 120 drivers were caught driving more than 50km/h over the speed limit and five were more than 70km/h over the speed limit.
