This is not a time to slow down

09 October 2013

On 8 October 2013 it was reported in the news that the long-anticipated revision of the Law on Road Traffic Safety is being postponed indefinitely. The amendments to the law, due to come into force on 5 November, would have introduced a category “M” for persons wishing to ride a scooter, А1 for riding motorcycles with an engine size of up to 125cc, and B1 for riding quad bikes. It transpires that the programmes and driver/rider training requirements that were to accompany the law have not yet been developed. Moreover, no one has even started this work: the transport and education ministries have not managed to agree which of them should be responsible for developing these programmes. 

The Ministry for Education and Science developed a draft government resolution “On Approving the Procedure for Developing Model Programmes of Professional Training for Drivers of Vehicles of Various Categories and Sub-Categories”. This document places the development of the model programmes within the remit of the Ministry for Transport. But the Ministry for Transport has agreed only to develop training programmes for professional drivers, and it has instructed the Ministry for Education to attend to training for passenger car drivers and moped and motorcycle riders.

Regretfully, Russia has once again proved unprepared for crucial legislative amendments. Delaying or abandoning the revision of the law, which would give moped and scooter riders full rights and obligations as road users, could cost thousands of lives, including children’s lives.

In Russia, it is very common for children as young as twelve to ride scooters or mopeds. And their parents condone this: not seeing the difference between an ordinary bicycle and a motorised bike, they give their children these machines as gifts. Naturally, children do not know all the rules of the road. They do not always understand how to cross the road properly, let alone how to drive along it. Consequently, from early spring to late autumn, the statistics on road crash victims include a very large number of teenage drivers and riders. According to estimates by the General Department of Road Traffic Safety, in the last eight years there has been a tenfold increase in the number of road traffic accidents involving mopeds and scooters, and in 8% to 10% of cases the riders were drunk.

What should we do in this situation? We propose that we do not wait while the ministries decide who should develop the programmes. We propose that NGOs, driving schools and the expert community come together without delay to develop training programmes for scooter riders. President of NGO Road Safety Russia, Natalia Agre, commented, “We cannot allow children to die just because officials have been passing this work back and forth for months. Of course, it is not our job to work on educational programmes, but, unfortunately, delaying this matter could prove deadly. We are therefore putting together a working group with the aim of ensuring that scooter riders receive the same rights and obligations as other road users as soon as possible.”

We need to act today to prevent more children becoming victims. We call on the expert community, NGOs and driving schools to get involved in developing a training programme for scooter riders.

Share




Comments

So that to post a comment you need to login the web site

News

We recommend to look



Login Register
Login Register