Drone catches slow trucks trying to overtake each other on the D1

On a stretch of the D1 motorway between Fulnek and Ostrava, traffic police in the Moravian-Silesian Region ran a special operation against sluggish trucks that kept trying to overtake one another anyway. To keep an eye on the traffic, officers used a drone for the first time, monitoring the motorway from above.

According to police spokeswoman Soňa Štětinská, the operation targeted trucks weighing over 3.5 tonnes and longer than 7 metres. Although traffic was fairly light at the time, officers recorded 15 such trucks overtaking while driving extremely slowly during just a few hours of the raid — a manoeuvre that's against the rules.

Fines and admissions from drivers

All the drivers admitted the violation and were fined on the spot. In total, the patrols collected 68,500 crowns. Štětinská explained that for this type of offence, police can issue fines ranging from 4,500 to 5,500 crowns along with six penalty points, while an administrative proceeding could result in a fine of 7,000 to 25,000 crowns, also with six points.

Besides slow overtaking, police caught five more trucks driving in the wrong lane, for which the drivers paid nearly 6,000 crowns combined. One truck driver was also fined 2,500 crowns for holding a mobile phone while driving.

Read also: Prague Metro: map and tickets

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz