Measures against traffic violators toughened

By Vusala Abbasova - AzerNews 

Did you know that nearly 1.3 million people die and as many as 20-50 million people are injured or disabled in road traffic crashes every year?

Driving is the shared responsibility of all drivers; therefore, the government should require people to comply with road traffic laws.

The Parliament of Azerbaijan has initiated new road safety measures in order to curtail road accidents in the country.

The government discussed the possibilities of strengthening legal repercussions for driving without a license during its plenary session on October 20.

Earlier, public transit operators, who hadn’t passed training at a driving school nor gotten a driver’s license, were only fined. But after applying amendments to Article 152.1 of the Administrative Code, such drivers could face a prison sentence for 15-30 days and be barred from operating a vehicle for up to two years.

Yet another amendment would place the person under arrest for a term of one to two months with restrictions on the right to drive a vehicle for up to two years.

If, as a result of the offense, the health of a person is lightly damaged or there is material damage, the offender could face a prison term of up three months and be revoked the right to drive a vehicle for a period of up to two years.

At the same time, the government plans to get rid of punishments for those lacking medical examinations during the plenary session.

These changes would eliminate Article 166.3, which includes a fine in the amount of 40-50 manats for officials and 150-200 manats for legal entities for the absence of mandatory and ongoing medical examinations for the public transit drivers.

The government has already made changes to the law on road transport concerning taxi drivers.

According to the amendments, those who want to engage in passenger transit should be at least 21 years old and have a valid driver's license, confirming the right to drive a class B or BE vehicle, and possess the vehicle for more than two years.

Earlier, adults who had reached the age of 19 and with experience driving for at least one year could engage in passenger transportation.

The Parliament has also decided to make amendments to Articles 296-1.1,b, including punishment for demonstratively exceeding the speed limit involving two or more vehicles.

According to the recently adopted amendments, the fine for the aforementioned violation will be in amount of 2,000-4,000 manats plus a restriction on the right to drive a vehicle for up to two years. The violator might also be arrested depending on the circumstances of the case.

Over the first eight months of 2015, Baku’s roads experienced some 548 road accidents, which claimed the lives of 154 people and injured 641.

Statistics show that the number of road collisions decreased compared to last year. The number of accidents declined by 64, fatalities by 53, and injuries by 35.

Pedestrians also played a significant role in the number of accidents, and during the first half of 2015, some 78,193 pedestrians were reported to have violated traffic rules.