The "Safe City" system shows numbers that are hard to ignore - but they too, like any government statistic, call for careful reading. In the first 24 hours of the trial period around 110,000 violations were recorded; today the daily figure has fallen to 500 to 600, a drop of over 99 percent.

Between 2 February and 22 June 2026, 120,000 traffic violations were recorded, more than 95 percent of them for speeding. More importantly - the number of road deaths has fallen by 40 percent: 33 dead against 55 last year in the same period. The system is active in Skopje, Kumanovo and Tetovo, as well as on corridors 8 and 10.

When you set the figure of 110,000 violations in a single day against 500-600 today, the picture is clear: drivers drove as if there were no rules, and only started paying attention once the camera spoke up. That's both praise and verdict - praise for the effect, a verdict on the kind of traffic culture we had before the lens caught us.

Still, it's worth keeping a healthy scepticism. Fewer fatalities are real news, measured in lives saved, not in votes. But "Safe City" solves part of the problem - the part that can be filmed. Bad roads, unlit intersections and slow reactions remain. A camera can fine you for speeding; it can't build you a safer street.