Interactive section “Pedestrian Right” appeared at State Traffic Police web-site

08 February 2012

A new section of public discussion «Pedestrian Right» was launched at the official site of the State Traffic Police.

According to statistics, the number of motor vehicle accidents involving pedestrians remains pretty high. In 2011 there were 66 064 motor vehicle accidents on the roads of the country that involved pedestrians. As many as 8,822 people died and 61,456 sustained injuries. The accidents that occur immediately at the pedestrian crossings which are considered as safety islands for pedestrians are of special concern. Last year the amount of accidents in above areas grew by 3.3%. All in all, as many as 16 839 of the accidents were reported. As a result, 1,144 people died (a yoy increase of 9.8 %) and 16,916 got injuries (yoy 3% increase).

«The issue deals with the fact that quite often drivers simply ignore the right of pedestrian for the safety forgetting that pedestrians are fully authorized road users, - said police colonel Vladimir Shevchenko, the Head of Directorate of the Legal Compliance and Propaganda of the Safe Road Traffic of the State Traffic Police reporting to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. – We all see how reckless drivers “flying by” without decelerating along the pedestrian crossings, and terrified people with children are literarily running along zebra crossing doing their best to avoid collision racing cars whereas drivers do not even attempt to brake».

 

This, according to Vladimir Shevchenko, is only one side to the issue. “Quite often, these are pedestrians who are violating the Traffic Rules. Last year the pedestrians were responsible for 31,206 motor vehicle accidents. This is a big number and drunken pedestrians were responsible for as many as 2,752 accidents. As a result of above accidents 5,483 people died and 27,098 were injured, - said the representative of the State Traffic Inspectorate. – Among the main violations committed by pedestrians there are sudden entering the road from behind the trees, parked cars or other obstacles or crossing the road in inappropriate areas».

«Everybody understands that the issue is high on agenda and it requires solution. Thousands of our compatriots are dying in motor-vehicle accidents on the annual basis, - Vladimir Shevchenko pointed out. – This is why we decided to organize the public discussion  on our website to address the topic of «Pedestrian Right» which will give opportunity to representatives of the public organizations, associations, expert community, as well as to ordinary citizens to jointly work out the measures to improve pedestrian safety».

The State Traffic Inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia invites all participants of the road traffic to take part in discussion offering their viewpoint. Based on results of discussion, a set of measures will be worked out that will allow making Russian roads more safe both for pedestrians and drivers.

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