SKOPJE – From 1 February 2026, North Macedonia began using a new “Safe City” system to automatically detect traffic violations and improve safety on its roads.
New Safe City system is designed to make roads safer and enforcement fairer. Using cameras and sensors, it can automatically spot speeding, running red lights, illegal parking, and driving with expired documents, so authorities don’t have to rely on manual checks.
To make this possible, North Macedonia has updated key laws, allowing fines to be sent digitally, vehicle documents to be checked electronically, serious offences to be punished more effectively, and payments to be made online or at border crossings.
With these changes, the Safe City system can work smoothly, transparently, and reliably.
The first phase covers major cities and key sections of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) Corridors 8 and 10, which connect the region with neighbouring EU countries.
In the future, the system is expected to expand further.
The Safe City system supports the Transport Community’s Road Safety Action Plan, which promotes safer vehicles, better protection for road users, improved infrastructure, and stronger enforcement of speed limits.
It also helps strengthen cross-border cooperation, ensuring that drivers respect traffic rules when travelling across the region.
Road safety remains a major challenge. During the testing phase in Skopje, more than 110,000 violations were recorded in just one day before the system was enforced. On the first day of system enforcement, the number of traffic violations is reported to have dropped to 646.
North Macedonia currently records around 77 road fatalities per million inhabitants, well above the EU average of 45. The government has committed to cutting fatalities and serious injuries by half by 2030. The Safe City system is expected to play an important role in reaching this goal.
Safer roads mean fewer accidents and delays, more reliable trade routes, lower economic losses, and better travel experiences for everyone.
