BMW clocked at 244 km/h stopped near Mali Pozarevac
A BMW with Swiss plates was recorded by police radar at 244 km/h on a stretch where the limit is 130. The driver was pulled off the road and faces misdemeanour proceedings.
- A police interceptor's radar recorded a speed of 244 kilometres per hour on the motorway near Mali Pozarevac, where the limit is 130.
- The driver of a BMW with Swiss plates was removed from traffic and a request for misdemeanour proceedings was filed against him for reckless driving.
- On the first day of the enforcement drive alone, traffic police checked more than 8,300 vehicles and recorded close to 6,000 violations.
- The central enforcement operation runs from July 13 to July 19, at the height of the summer tourist season.
Traffic police stopped a BMW with Swiss registration plates on the motorway near Mali Pozarevac after an interceptor’s radar recorded a speed of 244 kilometres per hour. The limit on that stretch is 130. The driver was removed from traffic and a request for misdemeanour proceedings was filed against him for reckless driving. Interior Minister Ivica Dacic also commented on the case.
The stop was made during the central traffic enforcement operation running on Serbian roads from July 13 to July 19. It targets speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol and psychoactive substances, failure to use seat belts and improper transport of children. The trigger was a deteriorating road safety picture at the start of the summer tourist season.
The numbers from the first day of the drive show how bad that picture is. Police checked more than 8,300 vehicles and recorded close to 6,000 traffic violations. That is, on average, one violation for every second vehicle stopped.
What legally follows for a driver recorded at 244 km/h
For now the driver is accused of a misdemeanour, not a criminal offence, and his responsibility has not been established by a final ruling. The request for proceedings goes to the misdemeanour court, which decides on the penalty. For the most serious forms of speeding and reckless driving, the law provides for a fine, a driving ban and penalty points, and in some cases a prison sentence.
Removal from traffic is a measure police impose immediately, on the spot, and it does not depend on the outcome of the court case. The point is to stop the danger the moment it is spotted, without waiting for a verdict.
The Swiss plates change nothing in legal terms. The offence was committed on Serbian territory, so domestic rules apply regardless of where the vehicle is registered or where the driver lives.
Why the summer season is the most dangerous stretch of the year
Serbia’s motorways turn into international corridors in July and August. Traffic density rises, vehicles are fully loaded, many drivers are behind the wheel for hours, and a good share of them are on a route they do not know. In those conditions every extra kilometre per hour shortens reaction time and lengthens the stopping distance.
At 244 kilometres per hour a vehicle covers close to 68 metres in a single second. A car at the permitted 130 needs almost twice as long to cover the same distance. The difference is not measured in seconds but in whether an obstacle can be avoided at all.
Police have said the checks will not be limited to the announced dates and that interceptors will stay on the stretches with the highest number of speeding offences. Interceptor radar records the speed, the time and the exact location, so the footage is used as evidence in proceedings.
The case near Mali Pozarevac is not an isolated one, but the recorded speed puts it at the very top of what has turned up on Serbian motorways this season. What remains open is whether the size of the penalty has any effect at all on drivers who knowingly travel at twice the limit.
Do you think current speeding penalties are enough, or should cases like this bring an immediate licence suspension?
