14.05.09

President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a law amending the Code of Administrative Offences, adopted by the State Duma on April 22 and approved by the Federation Council on April 29, which increases the penalty from 100 to 1,000 roubles for drivers who do not stop at zebra crossings.

Earlier, Russian traffic police chief Viktor Kiryanov expressed concern about a large number of road accidents involving pedestrians.

"The problem of pedestrian runovers is indeed quite pressing. Every year hundreds of people die as a result of such road accidents, with the drivers being responsible in the majority of cases as they either fail to notice a person on the pedestrian crossing, cannot slow down because they are driving at a high speed, or fail to control the car," Kiryanov said.

"As the overall number of road accidents is decreasing, the number of runovers on pedestrian crossings continues to grow," he said.

"I have issued instructions to territorial traffic police units to strengthen control over drivers on pedestrian crossings. Special raids were organised to examine all pedestrian crossings without exception," Kiryanov said, adding that the results of the inspections would be reviewed by regional commissions on road safety.

A "Zebra" campaign is underway in Russia to reduce the number of runovers on the roads.

"Preventive measures have been organised in all regions in order to increase the safety of pedestrians and to promote mutually respectful relations between drivers and pedestrians," Kiryanov said.

Special attention is given to children and drivers near pedestrian crossings.

"Look how many drivers do not comply with the traffic rules and do not let pedestrians pass at the pedestrian crossings, and pedestrians often cross the road in the wrong place. But one can understand them because most of the pedestrian crossings are not made properly," 'he said.

Kiryanov said he had ordered better control over traffic near pedestrian crossings. "We have checked over 1,000 pedestrian crossings and exposed a large number of violations. We made statements and those responsible will be penalised," he said.

According to the official website of Russia's traffic police, 218,322 road accidents were registered in Russia in 2008. As a result, 29,936 people died. Compared to the previous year, the number of road accidents decreased by 6.6 percent, the number of those killed in road accidents decreased by 10.1 percent and those injured by 7.3 percent.

However Kiryanov admitted that "despite obvious tendencies in ensuring the safety of traffic, reducing the number of road accidents and their casualties, the situation on the roads remains complex".

"Most road accidents continue to be caused by drivers who intentionally grossly violate the rules. Such irresponsibility leads to tragedies, and the number of runovers is particularly disturbing," he said.

According to Kiryanov, over 13,000 people die and about 90,000 are injured in road accidents annually.

"These are huge numbers. And a lion's share of responsibility for this is borne by the drivers who forget about the priority of pedestrians at the road crossings and run them over right over the zebra," he said.

"I regret to say that such violations occur on a mass scale," he added.

He said instructions had been sent to all regions to improve the situation. "Traffic policemen carry out special measures to check all pedestrian crossings without exception, their markings and road signs, and road bumps. Traffic police have also strengthened control over compliance by drivers with motoring rules when passing pedestrian crossings," Kiryanov said.

However he believes that traffic police alone cannot solve the problem.

"Every party to road traffic should understand his responsibility, be more attentive, strictly observe the rules, and be polite and tactful to other drivers and pedestrians," he said.

"Unless every citizen realizes his personal responsibility for compliance with the traffic rules, we will continue to lose our most precious, our children, on the roads," Kiryanov said.

Kiryanov called for developing additional measures to prevent road accidents in regions.

"The consequences of injuries received in road accidents are already beginning to affect national security. Our task is to do everything we can in order to prevent road accidents and save human lives. Regional and municipal programmes to increase the safety of road traffic should play a bigger role in these efforts," he said.

Over 30,000 Russians die in road accidents annually, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said.

"The number of deaths from road accidents in our country is the biggest per 100,000 people among all of the member-states of the European Conference of European Ministers of Transport. The price society pays for greater mobility and technological progress is too high," Nurgaliyev said.

Pedestrian runovers account for about half of all road accidents in the country. In every sixth accident, pedestrians were run over at zebra crossings. Most of them occurred through the drivers' fault.

According to Nurgaliyev, the main result of the first stage of the federal targeted programme entitled "Increasing the Safety of Road Traffic in 2006-2012" is the public recognition of this problem.

He called for focusing on legal awareness of drivers in the prevention of road accidents.

"Unfortunately, no one had been doing that for decades, and we had chaos on our roads. Some 30,000-35,000 people died yearly in road accidents," the minister said.

"We must make drivers understand that they are responsible for other drivers and their passengers," he said.

Nurgaliyev admitted that despite all measures, the number of injuries from road accidents nationwide decreases slowly. "We can't agree with the lawlessness and negligence we can see on the Russian roads. We must do everything we can to bring order to the roads in our country," the minister said.

According to Kiryanov, 34,800 road accidents were registered in Russia in the first quarter of the year, a decrease of 6.2 percent from the same period of last year. As a result, 4,400 people died, a decrease of 13.5 percent, and 43,700 were injured, a decrease of 3.5 percent from the same period of 2008.

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Source: Itar-Tass