Study shows that half of Russians do not wear seat belts in cabs

Half of cab passengers in Russia do not use seat belts. This was reported to Izvestia on December 17 by the Public Council for Taxi Development, whose analysts conducted a study and recorded information about 7,177 trips from November 10 to December 10, 2024.

Thus, of the total number of recorded trips, 3,654 cases (51%) were registered when passengers did not buckle up. The study involved 24 cab drivers from 20 Russian cities, including Kazan, Perm, Veliky Novgorod, Tula, Yekaterinburg, Moscow, Cheboksary, St. Petersburg, Belgorod and others.

According to the survey results, the most responsible passengers were in Kazan, where 84% of cab passengers use seat belts.

The Public Council for Taxi Development noted that an unfastened belt increases the risk of bruises and injuries in case of sudden braking or an accident. In addition, conflicts regularly arise between passengers and drivers when the latter try to remind them of the need to comply with safety rules. These disputes not only spoil the passengers' impression of the trip, but also distract drivers from driving, the council said.

Camera, taximotor: all cab passengers proposed to be videotaped

Amendments to the law will improve safety, but may affect fare increases

On December 2, the Public Council for Taxi Development appealed to the Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin and Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit with a request to withdraw from consideration the bill on the mandatory installation of cameras in cab cars that would film passengers.