"The number of accidents with serious consequences on the roads decreased by 25%"

Gadgets have become one of the causes of serious car accidents on high-speed roads. To improve traffic safety, the management of Avtodor proposed to introduce into the legislation a ban on their use behind the wheel. In addition, liability for non-payment of travel has been tightened. Vyacheslav Petushenko, Chairman of the Management Board of this state-owned company, told Izvestia in an interview at the SPIEF about how the fight against violators on high-speed highways will be conducted.

"The first time we warn the violator, and the second time it's a deprivation of rights"

— A new national project "Infrastructure for Life" has been launched. What is the most important thing in it, which areas will be developed, which routes will be introduced?

— The state-owned company is creating a framework of expressways in Russia in the west–east and north–south directions. This is one of the largest projects that we are implementing today. In the coming month, we will open 275 km of a completely new road on the Kazan–Yekaterinburg section as part of the west–east direction.

This will make it possible to get to Yekaterinburg four hours faster. Not only to Yekaterinburg, but further to Tyumen. We are shortening the distance by 200 km. We have just held a big meeting with the governor of the Tyumen region on the construction of a bypass of Tyumen. And we will continue to develop roads to the east.

The main task that we see for ourselves in the coming years is the construction of bypasses of cities: Tyumen, St. Petersburg, and now we are starting to design a bypass of Krasnodar. Work is being completed on Orekhovo-Zuyev and on the reconstruction of the M-1 to Smolensk and M-3 to Kaluga roads, which are important for the center of Russia. A large number of exploration sites are under construction on the Central Ring Road around Moscow.

And the most important thing is to keep the road network in good condition.

— After the Free Flow system was put into operation, craftsmen appeared who are trying to bypass it, close the rooms so as not to pay for the fare. How many such violators are there and how do you deal with them?

— Why is there a "Free flow"? Because its advantages are obvious: you don't have to stop at toll booths in front of the barriers, slow down and accelerate. This does not reduce the flow rate.

There are violators, and they do it consciously. You pull into the expressway and see that the highway is tolled. We are systematically working with violators. At the end of last year, changes were made to the Administrative Code. If earlier there was a fine of up to 5,000 rubles and then deprivation of rights for a period of one to three months, now there is no fine — immediately deprivation of rights from one to three years.

— That is, right from the first time?

— From the second one. The first time we warn the violator, and the second time it's already a deprivation of rights.

— So the first time could be an accident?

— Maybe it was an accident.

We are conducting raids together with the State Traffic Inspectorate. They catch those who hang up the numbers, install frames and mechanical devices.

Our emergency commissioners are helping the traffic police. There are about 160 crews on Avtodor's roads who monitor traffic and help in case of an accident. We are currently equipping these machines with additional devices in order to identify violators.

Probably the main tool in the fight against defaulters is that we create a database of cars passing on our roads. More than 2 thousand video cameras help with this. Today, identification is possible by the unique features of cars: by color, by chipping on the glass, by attachments. Therefore, it must be understood that punishment is inevitable. But the percentage of conscious defaulters is small.

"Which one?"

— 60-65% of drivers pay for the first five days. In the next five days, another 15% is added approximately, and then others are pulled up. Our payment collection now reaches 93%.

— What is the percentage of violators from the total flow of drivers?

— It turns out that about 7%. It used to be about 11%.

There are problems with foreign cars that don't always pay the fare. But we are trying to eliminate these gray areas in the legislation that help them do this. We have now developed a draft law according to which foreigners will be able to pay checks for travel at the border when leaving the territory of Russia. Everyone should understand that punishment is inevitable. It's just about the time when it will happen.

"We propose to introduce into the legislation a ban on the use of gadgets while driving"

— By 2030, it is planned to reduce the number of accidents by one and a half times to the level of 2023. How can this be achieved?

— This is a planned job. You can't make it with a click. But today, the number of accidents with serious consequences and deaths on our roads has decreased by 25% compared to last year. In other words, this is a lot of work related to the complex of measures that we carry out every day on the roads.

An automated motion control system has been introduced, which includes 2,000 cameras. That is, we record every vehicle. And we have much fewer violators of the speed limit than non-payers.

Another effective measure is the musical marking on the M-11 highway. You can only listen to the melody when you are driving at the permitted speed.

— If you exceed it, will you not hear it?

— It will be vague and blurred. On high-speed roads, a large number of accidents are associated with monotony of driving, fatigue and distraction by gadgets. The Moscow – St. Petersburg highway is 680 km, then along the Central Ring Road and to Kazan it turns out 1520 km. We try to distract the driver from this monotonous ride in various ways. Every 5 km we put up orange signs, the emergency telephone number is 2323, they partially allow us to track the path. Musical markup also makes its contribution.

In addition, our edge stripes are embossed, and when the car is shifted onto them, the driver feels vibrations that wake him up. They are especially relevant for trucks. In them, drivers sometimes fall asleep from monotony or just watching movies on gadgets comparable to televisions.

To combat the dominance of gadgets, we propose to introduce a ban on their use behind the wheel into the legislation.

The speed limit on the motorway is 110 km/h, and the truck passes 40 m in one second. It happens that such drivers crash into cars that are standing or slowing down. We want to oblige carriers to install cameras in the cabs of mainline tractors to record the driver's behavior.

— And the musical markings, as on the M-11, on which other routes are planned?

— We want to make it on the M-12. There will be new tunes there.

Another effective tool is chevrons for determining the distance. If the driver ran over this chevron and saw the car ahead on the same chevron, it means that the distance to it is safe. This is also a certain element of compliance with the rules of the road.

Another reason for an accident is when a vehicle stops on the road. It is strictly prohibited on our roads. Why do we have emergency commissioners? If the car breaks down, they immediately drive up, put on strobe lights so that it can be seen far away.

Recently, we had a tragic accident — a car had a corny tire. Instead of pulling over to the right side of the road, getting out of the car, and waiting for the emergency commissioner and emergency services, the driver of the three lanes got into the middle lane. Two minutes have passed and three people have died.

We hold monthly talks in schools in towns near expressways. Our colleagues go along with traffic police officers and carry out educational work.

— For the first time in Russia, unmanned truck traffic has been launched on the M-11 Moscow–St. Petersburg highway. Are there any plans to expand this system to the M-12 and other highways?

— Two years ago, together with the head of KAMAZ, an unmanned vehicle on the M-11 was launched as part of the economic forum. Self-driving trucks have a driver, but he does not drive, but monitors the operation of the electronics. This is the fourth level of the systems. In the fifth, the person will not be needed at all.

Unmanned systems are a necessary measure because the number of trucks is growing, but there are not enough drivers, work and rest regimes are not respected. And with unmanned systems, you can drive around the clock.

We started with six cars, and now there are 68 self-driving trucks. In April, we launched them on the Central Ring Road. The M-12 highway will also be ready to receive them in a couple of months. That is, the unmanned route will stretch for 1,520 km.

There is a potential opportunity to launch an unmanned vehicle on the 275-kilometer Kazan – Yekaterinburg route.