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Colonel Hayk Sargsyan, Head of Planning, Evaluation and Analysis in the Armenian Traffic Police Department is one of the officials attending the international conference on Road Infrastructure Safety. Ahead of the conference, he speaks about the road safety issues in Armenia and what he hopes to achieve through his participation at the conference.
Is it safe to drive in Armenia?
The numbers speak for themselves. In 2007 alone, 371 people died and 2,720 people were injured in 1943 road accidents. Over 200 accidents were caused because of bad road conditions. Road accidents have increased year by year in Armenia.
There was little interest in promoting road safety in the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union. No state budget was allocated to train people on road safety. The number of car owners increased fast but not in proportion with education and training on traffic regulation.
Today the Armenian government is very strict about driving regulations. However the police needs to be better equipped to enforce the law and implement any sanctions against drivers. We are currently reforming the police in Armenia and replacing old equipment. But we are also putting a lot of effort on educating drivers on road safety. The Armenian National Road Safety Council, which was established three years ago with help from FIA Foundation, has become instrumental in delivering messages on road safety to drivers. It has also reached schools to train children from a very young age and turn them into responsible future drivers.
What do you expect to achieve from attending the International Conference on Road Infrastructure Safety?
Developing countries face the same road safety challenges and I believe that this conference is a forum to share experiences and lessons learnt. My participation at this conference expresses the Armenian government’s political will to support road safety initiatives and improve the road safety record in the country. I thank the conference organisers for bringing together government officials and investors from developing and developed countries to encourage a consensus on road infrastructure safety.
General Victor Kiryanov, Chief of Road Traffic Safety Inspectorate in the Russian Interior Ministry, will speak at the International Conference on Road Infrastructure Safety about the impact of road accidents and strategies for prevention in Russia.
How seriously is the road safety issue taken in Russia?
Very seriously. In fact, the Russian government has approved a programme for the period 2006 – 2012 detailing objectives and guidelines to improve road safety. Road crashes took the lives of over 30,000 people in 2007 and caused injuries of another 292 206 people across Russia .Road traffic injuries among children are of particular concern. Every year over 1,000 children die and about 25,000 are injured or disabled because of road crashes. The 2006 - 2012 Road Safety Programme is working to reduce the number of people killed in road accidents by one and a half times compared to levels before the programme was approved.
In Russia, irresponsible driving remains the main reason for high accident rates on the roads. Polls indicate that two-thirds of Russians support strengthening the liability and punishment for breaking road safety rules. The government is focused on improving legislation on road safety. For example, on July 2008 it approved a federal law that introduced the use of traffic cameras to prevent crime and identify law violators.
But punishment of violators isn’t the only solution to improve safety on the roads. The Road Traffic Safety Inspectorate has developed training programmes for drivers. We have also involved the media in delivering road safety messages to the public through social advertising campaigns. Emphasis is also put on better training of future drivers and teaching children rules for safety on the road. The Russian government puts a lot of emphasis on educating drivers to drive responsibly. Our message is that every individual has a right to drive a car but also the duty to follow safety requirements.
What do you expect to achieve from attending the International Conference on Road Infrastructure Safety?
I hope to learn from other countries’ experiences on road safety. In particular it would be useful to listen to speakers from the developed countries, which have dealt with road safety issues that are facing the developing world today. The conference creates the perfect platform for exchanging experiences and learning about best practices.
By Marjola Xhunga, Communications Adviser
4 July 2008
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