Between May and August, police issued 10,411 traffic penalties in targeted operations aimed at two-wheeler riders. The figure sounds impressive. Break it down, though, and it says something else: in four months, more than seven thousand people were caught riding on Macedonian streets without a helmet.

The offence that repeats seven thousand times

Of the 10,411 recorded offences, the overwhelming share - 7,303 - were for not wearing a protective helmet. That is seven out of every ten fines. Another 718 were for riding on an unsuitable surface, 401 for unregistered vehicles or vehicles without insurance, and 322 for not wearing a reflective vest.

On top of that: 81 offences for riding while under 18, and 45 for riding under the influence of alcohol.

Of the total, 1,571 offences involved electric scooters, 34 bicycles, and 8,806 mopeds, motorcycles and trikes. In August alone, 606 offences were penalised among scooter riders.

619 criminal offences - and 604 of them are the same one

Alongside the penalties, the operations also uncovered 619 criminal offences. Of those, 604 were for driving without a licence. Which means that in four months police caught more than six hundred people who had no right to be holding a steering wheel, or handlebars, at all.

A total of 423 vehicles were seized - 403 mopeds, motorcycles and trikes, and 20 electric scooters.

The numbers describe enforcement, not a solution

Residents say that after all these fines the streets still carry minors on scooters, two to a board, and adults flying along at night with no helmet and no reflective vest. That does not discredit the police - they are clearly working, otherwise there would not be 10,411 reports. It points at the other half of the story: the penalty arrives after the offence has already happened, and the number of offences is not falling.

Twenty scooters seized in four months, against 1,571 fines issued to scooter riders. That is a ratio of one to seventy-eight.

Does the helmet go on because an officer is standing on the corner, or because the rider understood why he needs it? The numbers do not answer that - and it is the only question whose answer decides whether next summer brings more or fewer than 7,303 bare heads.