Since my childhood, I’ve heard countless stories in my country about traffic offenders who manage to bribe the officers who stop them. Over time, this situation led me to ask myself: how can we truly eradicate corruption in traffic enforcement when it seems to be a system where everyone benefits? The offender avoids the hefty fine they’d normally face, and the officer receives extra money. It’s a vicious cycle that seems to entrench itself. Tackling it would require not only changing the behavior of officers but also transforming the attitudes of thousands of citizens, right? At first, it seemed like an overwhelming task—one that would take decades.
However, during a research project on best practices in traffic enforcement, I came across a report titled Road Safety Enforcement and Traffic Policing in Moldova: Report of the Moldova/Georgia/UK Police Exchange Programme that reignited my hope. This report revealed something remarkable: while corruption among traffic officers is a challenge faced by almost every country, there are success cases that offer concrete strategies for combatting it. Take Georgia, for instance, where reforms led to an astounding increase in community trust in traffic officers—from 10% to 80% between 2003 and 2010. Or the United Kingdom, which is often cited in road safety literature as a model of best practices. Even Moldova, which, in just nine years, went from being one of the most dangerous countries for road users to one of the safest in Eastern Europe, with road safety records surpassing those of the United States1.
We can see that increasing public trust in traffic officers and reducing road accidents are two key indicators that can help measure corruption levels in traffic police. Personally, I find road accident rates to be especially telling. Through my research, I’ve learned that one of the most effective practices in traffic control is for officers and the institutions they belong to, to have as their primary purpose the eradication of road accidents. This means that traffic officers save lives. That is the true goal—not simply catching offenders and collecting fines. A significant reduction in road accidents is a powerful indicator that officers are performing their duties effectively, with road users complying with traffic laws because they understand that bribing an officer is no longer an option.
The report I mentioned depicts a series of exchange visits between traffic police specialists from Moldova, the United Kingdom, and Georgia. At the time, the Moldovan government had identified police corruption as one of the main obstacles to implementing a successful National Road Safety Strategy. This report is definitely worth reading in full, especially for public officials and anyone interested in addressing this issue. But for those with limited time, I’ve highlighted the key recommendations provided by the UK and Georgia delegations, which I believe are most relevant to our context:
The table above not only presents the recommendations but also provides a classification I’ve made for each of them. The purpose of this classification is to clearly highlight that these recommendations are primarily focused on the training and motivation of traffic officers, rather than solely on their control. While control is undeniably essential, the key message I want to convey is that the root causes of corruption in traffic enforcement are deeply connected to the working conditions of traffic officers and the culture they carry with them. It should come as no surprise, then, that corruption in other areas could also be addressed through proper education and improved quality of life for all.
Just as the government of Moldova demonstrated the political will to tackle the underlying causes of corruption in traffic enforcement, I urge governments around the world to follow their example.
- Eastern Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Transport. (s.f.). Road Safety Enforcement and Traffic Policing in Moldova: Report of the Moldova/Georgia/UK Police Exchange Programme. Available online at: https://saferoads.md/information/Police%20Exchange%20Programme.pdf
Mohn, T. (2019, August). How A Small European Country Went From Among The Most Dangerous To Topping The U.S. In Road Safety. Forbes. Available online at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyamohn/2019/08/22/how-a-small-european-country-went-from-among-the-most-dangerous-to-topping-the-u-s-in-road-safety/#353bec444c8d ↩︎
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