Life plan: Cabinet of Ministers outlines ways to improve road safety
The Government has adopted an action plan to improve road safety. The main directions and issues outlined in this document were discussed in the Public Chamber by representatives of the State Traffic Inspectorate, the Ministry of Transport, doctors, specialists and experts from driving schools, and car certification bodies. Due to this, it is planned to reduce the death rate on our roads by one and a half times by 2030, Izvestia found out.
A complex instead of priorities
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved an action plan for the implementation of the Road Safety Improvement Strategy adopted last year, which provides for a one—and-a-half-fold reduction in road deaths by 2030 and two-fold by 2036 (compared with the level of 2023). The document is published on the official website of the Russian government.
The plan includes more than 260 different events organized in five main areas. At the same time, as Oleg Ponarin, Deputy Head of the State Traffic Inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, told Izvestia at the scientific and practical forum "Together for Road Safety", held at the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, there are no priorities in the approved plan.
— The main feature of this document is that it does not separate the importance of certain areas. Whether it's the development of a driver training system, the modernization of road infrastructure, the development of a medical component, modern and safe vehicles, and other issues: all of them are of paramount importance. And it is precisely an integrated approach to solving them that will make it possible to achieve the planned parameters for reducing road deaths by one and a half times by 2030 and by two times by 2036," emphasized Oleg Ponarin.
In recent years, our country has achieved a significant reduction in the number of accidents and the severity of their consequences, recalled the head of the Scientific Center for Road Safety Russian Interior Ministry Police Colonel Dmitry Mitroshin. At the same time, the lower the accident rates, the more difficult it is to achieve their further reduction, he noted.
— The "cream" has already been removed: more fine—tuning of methods and tools is required to further reduce accident and mortality rates, - Dmitry Mitroshin noted.
According to Valery Soldunov, a member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation and chairman of the All-Russian Society of Motorists, the main feature of the document adopted by the government is an integrated approach to road safety issues.
— It is gratifying that the adopted plan includes not only the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Traffic Inspectorate, but also other ministries and departments that were actively involved in its development. It is also important that public organizations were involved in the work on it, and the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation became a platform where all ministries, departments and experts could not only express their opinions on a particular issue, but also listen to the opinions of other parties during the discussions, Valery Soldunov told Izvestia.
Punishment for cheat sheets
According to statistics, the cause of the vast majority of car accidents are violations of traffic regulations by drivers. Therefore, one of the important components of road safety remains the level of training of motorists, their knowledge and skills.
Changes in legislation related to the training of future drivers, testing their knowledge and admission to driving were adopted even before the Cabinet of Ministers summarized the plan to improve road safety, said Police Colonel Nikolai Gilyakov, head of the organization of examination activities and provision of public services at the State Traffic Inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. He recalled that new rules for conducting driver's license exams have already come into force. Now the practice exam will be scheduled no later than 60 days from the date of passing by the graduate of the Theory driving school. Moreover, if various electronic cheat sheets are found on the exam, then the exam for such a person will be canceled, his result will be canceled, and the next time a citizen will be allowed to check his knowledge of traffic regulations only after a year.
In addition, at the end of May, a law comes into force providing for the appearance of the so-called rating of driving schools, Nikolai Gilyakov said. He noted that the assessment of the educational institution will depend on the proportion of graduates who passed the exams the first time, as well as the number of accidents in which they became culprits within two years after obtaining their rights. At the same time, the estimate will be calculated based on 1,000 drivers who have been trained in one organization or another.
Elena Zaitseva, Chairman of the Board of the National Union of Driving Schools Association, is convinced that the knowledge and skills acquired by a driver in a driving school are an important, but far from the only component on which the further behavior of a motorist on the road depends. The psychological characteristics of the future driver are equally important, she noted.
— As part of the improvement of the driver training system, special attention should be paid to the psychological profile of future motorists. It is necessary to take into account their attitude to risk and safety — how they behave on the road will largely depend on this," the expert noted.
Fortress car
To a large extent, the level of safety on the roads depends on the design of the vehicle itself, the presence of active safety systems in it to avoid accidents, and passive safety systems that reduce the severity of the consequences of an accident, experts say.
In this regard, the key document in our country is the technical regulations "On the safety of wheeled vehicles," said Denis Zagarin, head of the Testing Center at FSUE NAMI. However, he noted that this document, adopted in 2011, has not actually changed since that moment.
Experts also have questions about car certification standards. For example, the "certification" crash test of cars in our country is carried out according to more "mild" requirements - the speed of the car before impact is 54 km / h, a collision with an obstacle is carried out with an "overlap" of 50% of the area of the frontal projection of the car. At the same time, foreign standards are noticeably stricter.: a speed of 64 km/h and a 40 percent "overlap".
According to the plan adopted by the government, it is planned to relaunch the National Vehicle Safety Assessment Rating (RuNCAP) in 2027-2030. His information can be used, among other things, to promote the safest cars on the market and organize public procurement. In addition, the data from RuNCAP, as well as the equipment of the car with security systems, may further affect the cost of insurance: the Central Bank, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Industry and Trade have been instructed to work out the issue of additional individualization of CTP tariffs.
— RuNCAP will apply the requirements and conditions for vehicle certification that are similar or close to foreign requirements, — said Denis Zagarin.
The document also stipulates the need to conduct a "comprehensive study of the risks of right-hand drive vehicles in traffic" and finalize driver training programs in regions where there is a high proportion of such vehicles.
The speed of rescue
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), road accidents are the leading cause of death for people under the age of 29. Our country is no exception, says Tatiana Kolpakova, a public health specialist at the WHO office in Russia. At the same time, many people who died in car accidents could have been saved if they had received the necessary help in time, experts emphasize.
There is a so-called "golden hour" rule, but very often victims of road accidents do not have this hour, says Leonid Dezhurny, chief freelance first aid specialist at the Russian Ministry of Health.
— It is impossible to save a person if he received life-threatening injuries in an accident. But it is not uncommon for a person to die even in a minor accident. For example, a pedestrian was hit by a car at low speed, and he doesn't even have any fractures. But when the man fell, he hit his head on the ground and lost consciousness. If he stays off his back, his tongue may fall in and block his airway. The victim just needs to be turned on his side — it's a matter of five seconds, and it doesn't require any special skills. But, unfortunately, often in such situations, arriving doctors can only pronounce death," said Leonid Dezhurny.
He calls eyewitnesses of the incident a very important link in providing assistance. It is their actions in a critical situation, such as respiratory arrest or severe bleeding of the victim, that determine whether he will survive or not.
— In the vast majority of cases, other drivers who are required to have first aid knowledge and skills immediately find themselves near the accident site. But if theoretical knowledge is tested during the theory exam, then no one checks the practical skills of a motorist. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce control of these skills into the practical exam," says the chief freelance first aid specialist of the Russian Ministry of Health.
Fight drunkenness!
There are points in the approved plan to improve road safety that provide for legislative adjustments. For example, it is planned to "work out the issue" of increasing responsibility, including the introduction of criminal penalties for repeated driving without a license. It is also possible to increase the limitation period for bringing to justice for traffic violations.
There is a separate issue of strengthening the fight against drunkenness at the wheel. According to one of the points of the document, it is planned to introduce an information exchange between the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Health on the results of an alcohol intoxication examination.
Konstantin Shaklein, Deputy General Director of the V.P. Serbsky National Medical Research Center for Psychiatry and Narcology of the Russian Ministry of Health, noted that approximately 70% of drunk drivers are identified by traffic police officers without involving doctors. Motorists agree with the readings of the breathalyzer, into which they were offered to breathe by police officers — in this case, it is not necessary to conduct a medical examination in a drug dispensary.
— But in this case, information about the drunk driver does not get to the doctors. Accordingly, such a motorist does not appear in the database of the Ministry of Health. Such data exchange is necessary," Konstantin Shaklein believes.
He also considers it necessary to amend Article 4.1 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, according to which alcohol users may be required by court to undergo additional diagnostics, various preventive measures or treatment for alcoholism. Currently, this procedure applies only to those who have been found to be under the influence of drugs.
SIMs and Roads
The action plan for improving road safety provides for the possibility of introducing mandatory verification of users with rental electric scooters and other SIM cards. In addition, it is planned to "develop and approve an interstate standard providing for the classification, technical requirements and other conditions for the production and operation of personal mobility equipment," as well as their state registration with the receipt of numbers.
"As early as 2026, it is planned to approve regional infrastructure development plans for SIM and their integration into urban transport systems. The Ministry of Transport and the regional authorities will solve this task," the government's order says.
Several blocks of the adopted plan are devoted to the development of road infrastructure. In particular, special attention will be paid to the expansion of the backbone network of highways, the construction of bypasses of settlements, transport interchanges, etc.
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