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A curious situation arose for SJ who lives in Kaunas. On Saturday, January 23, after arriving at the Old Town market and parking a car on Jonavos Street, immediately after leaving the ring of Kaunas Castle (outside the “Iki” store), he received a message that he had violated the parking lot. Rules: it is forbidden to park cars in this area. This is announced by the “No Stop” traffic sign with an additional “Reach Forward and Backward” table (up and down arrows on a white background). Immediately behind this sign was another sign: “Paid Parking Space.”
“I explained to the officer who recorded the infraction that the traffic signs were incorrect here. That” No stop “with an additional table is not valid if the” No stop “traffic sign has not previously been erected without a table indicating the beginning of the validity of the traffic sign Such a rule is already specified in the Order of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of 2012 (on the installation of traffic signs and approval of the vertical marking rules – aut. Past). erected the traffic sign illegally, in violation of the minister’s order.
In Kaunas, Lithuanian laws are apparently not in force, the authorities deceive drivers with traffic signs that do not appear in the Road Traffic Regulations (KET). The police can treat you however you wish. Probably not a single driver was illegally punished for this. And there are wrong road signs elsewhere on Jonava Street. To my understanding, this is a scandal. There is no such nonsense in Vilnius, ”said SJ.
Reader’s photo / Traffic signs on Jonavos street
You consider that you did not violate the KET if you did not follow the illegally installed road signs.
Because the car belonged to the company, a few days later SJ received a police report of administrative misconduct. Please indicate who drove the car. The correspondence began with the investigator, to whom he gave all the necessary material, and sent an explanation with photographs that the traffic signs in that place were incorrect.
I did not receive the news for a month.
SJ had not received any information from the police for over a month, so on March 1 he decided to ask the investigator himself how he would view the investigation if any action would be taken on his alleged rape.
“The investigator wrote on March 2 that I will not be sanctioned, no administrative case has been opened (” Hello, they have not written the minutes. When I receive the information, I will inform you as well “- the exact content of the investigator’s letter, aut. The road sign is illegal, there is no reason to punish me. I was happy, “SJ continued.
But the joy a few days later was replaced by surprise. As soon as the Kaunas City Municipality corrected its mistake, after a few days of fixing the road signs there, SJ received a notification from the police that he still had to pay a fine of 15 euros.
“The investigator supposedly clarified and will still impose a fine on me. On March 15, a protocol of administrative misconduct was drawn up. I waited for the municipality, according to my letter, to put the road signs in order as it should and drew up a report almost two months after the alleged rape. The police, who made the right decision, then changed their mind. I thought they would go to the municipality: “Fix the signs.” But no, improve on the ground. Now they will defame me at the same time ”, SJ conveyed a rather absurd situation.
You have to pay, and only then will the case be known.
The complainant received a notification from the State Tax Inspection (STI) that the fine had to be paid before April 14.
“And the interrogator writes to me, asking if I will go to the oral hearing on April 28. I have to pay and haven’t even had a chance to make an excuse yet. I couldn’t even make my comments on the minutes. In total, that protocol is written in the abstract.
Surprisingly, when you send the protocol to the drivers first, demand payment and then, if you want, sue. I will not pay that penalty. And not the essence of the 15 euros here. I will complain about the protocol because it was written in violation of the requirements. The law does not arise from anarchy. After all, if the municipality changed the road signs, it admitted that they had been built illegally. The police have no right to punish me then, “SJ said.
The municipality acknowledged the error
Ask about this rather curious situation. 15 minutes sent to the municipality of Kaunas city. He initially responded briefly that the imposition of a fine was a matter for the police.
Sigismund Gedvila / 15min photo / Martynas Matusevičius
“As the applicant noted, the sign under the traffic sign, which has been erected since 2016, was not installed properly. Once the observation was received, the additional table was dismantled ”, was the brief response of the municipality.
As Martynas Matusevičius, head of the Kaunas City Municipality’s Department of Transportation and Traffic Management, admitted to the journalist by phone, this situation is quite complicated, most of the time there are no errors when installing traffic signs.
“I doubt that the drivers in that place were punished, because if they had been punished, they would have left earlier. In addition, on weekends, during market hours, the cars parked there were passively observed. There was no reaction. Also, the Public Order Department was not always open on weekends. Apparently, one of the COVID-19 raids was carried out this time to identify flows in the Old Town. He also saw the traffic sign ”, M. Matusevičius guessed what had happened.
A little later, delving into the situation, he explained that indeed the municipality had received a report from the Police that there was a lack of road signs in the area, and that they were installed in a deceptive way. According to M. Matusevičius, the deficiencies were corrected.
The police have also received information about other places in Kaunas where an incomplete set of road signs has been installed, which, according to the representative of the municipality, will be reviewed and corrected.
“In Kaunas we have 17 thousand traffic signs, it is likely that we missed some, errors occur. We can say it was a mistake, admitted M. Matusevičius.” The police will decide whether that person will be fined or not.
Photo by Erik Ovcharenko / 15-minute photo / Traffic signs on Jonava Street
Legal until found to be illegal
The Kaunas County Police also presented their position on this story.
“When compiling the administrative misconduct protocol, the specialist from the administrative activity department of the Highway Police Board relied on photos and data from the Kaunas City Municipality’s sign registry. Consequently, after evaluating all the circumstances and the composition of the offense, an administrative offense protocol was drawn up for the person with an administrative instruction in accordance with article 417 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. 2 d. (for non-compliance with traffic signs, passenger transport requirements or other traffic regulations violation) and a 15 euro fine was imposed, “the Kaunas County Police response reads. 15 minutes.
The police acknowledged that road signs were missing no. 332, which indicates the start and end of the start of the safe zone. Only road sign no. 332 with additional table 807 “Reach forward and reverse”. Check no. 332 with table no. 807 or 808 cannot be used unless sign No. 332, which indicates the start of the no-stop zone. If you stop behind this sign, the traffic sign will be valid as usual only without an additional table. Therefore, SJ’s observation about the wrong road signs was correct.
“Drivers must follow road signs until they are found to be illegal,” said Kaunas County Police spokeswoman Odeta Vaitkevičienė.
No decision was made not to sanction in this case.
According to her, since an additional traffic signal was found to be missing during the examination of the situation, the Highway Police Board informed the Kaunas City Municipal Administration about it. This supplemented the labeling and he undertook to review similar locations on Jonavos Street.
“According to the deadlines, the administrative procedures can last two years before the decision is made. No decision was made not to sanction in this case. If such a decision is made (it is not sanctioned), the administrative procedures. If a person does not agree to the offer to pay the imposed fine, then he has the right not to pay, but to participate in the process. The decision taken can be appealed to the Kaunas District Court “, – the fact that SJ did not fully understand the email that the investigator sent him. The letter was explained by a representative of the Kaunas County Police.
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