Colombia Traffic Fines Reduction 2026: The 50% Cut Bill

Colombia traffic fines reduction 2026 just moved from talk to bill text: fines could drop by as much as 50% under a proposal President Abelardo de la Espriella says he’ll send to Congress in the coming days. Announced August 29, 2026, the proposal also cuts the cost of discount driving courses by 25% and takes aim at the fotomulta (photo-radar) system, RUNT, SIMIT, and the tecnomecánica inspection — the whole paper trail of owning and driving a car in Colombia (El Colombiano). It’s a proposal, not law yet — but anyone who drives, rents a car, or gets a comparendo (Colombia’s term for a traffic ticket) in Medellín has a direct stake in whether it passes.

What De la Espriella actually proposed

Posting on X on August 29, the president framed the current fine schedule as disproportionate to the infractions it punishes: “a sanction must be proportional; it cannot become an economic condemnation for a Colombian family,” he said, adding that he’d take the package to the legislature within days (Infobae; La República). The package, as reported so far, bundles several changes:

• Cut traffic fines by up to 50%, rebalancing sanctions against the size of the infraction (Portafolio)
• Cut the cost of discount pedagogical courses by 25%, and let traffic authorities teach them directly instead of routing drivers through third-party “casa cárcel” providers the president says have cornered the market (Semana)
• Tighten authorization and calibration rules for fotomultas, aiming to stop tickets generated by faulty or improperly certified radar and camera equipment (Valora Analitik)
• Lower RUNT and SIMIT costs and extend driver’s license validity to 8–10 years while eliminating what the government calls unnecessary charges — though no specific new fees have been published yet (Infobae)
• Set clearer timeframes for the tecnomecánica (technical-mechanical) inspection (El Espectador)

The Ministry of Transporte has since started drafting a broader new Código Nacional de Tránsito to carry these changes, according to reporting the following day (Infobae).

Colombia Traffic Fines Reduction 2026: How Big Is the Cut?

Since January 2026, Colombia’s traffic fines are indexed to the Unidad de Valor Básico (UVB), not the minimum wage — a change from Law 2294 of 2023. The Ministry of Finance fixed the UVB for 2026 at COP 12,110 (Resolución 3488 de 2025), and each violation category multiplies that by a fixed factor. A mid-level infraction — speeding, skipping the mandatory tecnomecánica review, illegal parking, or driving during restricted hours (Category C) — runs 52.29 UVB, or COP 633,200. A serious violation — running a red light, driving the wrong way, or driving without SOAT insurance or a license (Category D) — runs 104.55 UVB, or COP 1,266,100, as of that January 2026 schedule (Infobae). At the top end, DUI infractions already range from roughly COP 3.8 million to over COP 60 million.

A 50% cut, if it survives Congress unchanged, would roughly halve each of those figures. Here’s what that looks like at Banco de la República’s TRM of COP 3,202.79 per dollar for August 29–31, 2026 (Banco de la República) — though the peso has been swinging fast this year, so treat any dollar figure as a snapshot, not a fixed rate:

Category	UVB	COP (2026 schedule)	USD (at TRM 3,202.79)	If cut 50%
C — speeding, illegal parking, restricted hours	52.29	COP 633,200	~US $198	~US $99 (COP 316,600)
D — red light, wrong way, no SOAT/license	104.55	COP 1,266,100	~US $395	~US $198 (COP 633,050)

So a Category D fine — the kind you’d get for blowing a red light — would fall from roughly US $395 to about US $198 under the proposal.

Fotomultas: the fight behind the reform

The fotomulta push didn’t come out of nowhere. It followed weeks of controversy over new photo-radar cameras and accusations — now trending online as “el cartel de las fotomultas” — that some municipal operators profit from poorly calibrated equipment (Semana). Bogotá’s city council president publicly backed the crackdown, saying tighter rules would end the business model for operators betting on volume over accuracy (Infobae). Not everyone agrees on credit — commentator Mafe Carrascal argued the underlying investigation predates this government (Semana). In the Senate, a related bill targeting proportional, graduated speeding penalties was already filed before the announcement (Semana).

What this means if you drive in Medellín

Nothing changes yet. This is a package the president says he’ll formally introduce “in the coming days” — it still has to be drafted as a bill, debated, and passed before any fine actually drops (El País). Until then, Medellín’s existing rules apply at full price — including the separate pico y placa restriction that reset in August, which carries its own fine formula and isn’t part of this reform. If you’re renting a car or driving regularly here, don’t budget around a discount that hasn’t been signed into law.

Worth remembering too: fines aren’t the biggest risk on Medellín’s roads. Traffic deaths have already overtaken homicides in the city this year, mostly involving motorcycles, so a cheaper comparendo won’t change what actually keeps you safe behind the wheel.

Frequently asked questions

Has Colombia officially cut traffic fines by 50%?

No — as of August 31, 2026, this is a proposal President De la Espriella says he’ll send to Congress, not an approved law. Current fine amounts, indexed to the 2026 UVB of COP 12,110 per unit, remain in force.

Does this affect Medellín’s pico y placa fine?

Not directly. Pico y placa violations are penalized under a separate formula from the general comparendo schedule this bill targets; nothing announced so far specifically changes that fine.

What is a fotomulta and why is it controversial?

A fotomulta is a traffic ticket issued automatically by a camera or radar unit rather than an officer. The controversy centers on allegations that some operators profit from poorly calibrated equipment that generates disputable tickets — the practice De la Espriella’s reform aims to rein in.

How much is a traffic fine in Colombia in 2026?

Under the schedule in force since January 2026 (UVB = COP 12,110), a mid-level Category C infraction like speeding or illegal parking runs COP 633,200 (about US $198), and a serious Category D infraction like running a red light or driving without SOAT runs COP 1,266,100 (about US $395), at Banco de la República’s August 2026 exchange rate. DUI fines run far higher, from roughly COP 3.8 million to over COP 60 million. None of these amounts change unless and until De la Espriella’s bill is passed.