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ENJOY THE LAW
Two organizations at the beginning of this year proposed to make the Rules of the Road a law, and not a document approved by the government. State Duma Deputy, First Deputy Head of the Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Vyacheslav Lysakov believes that traffic rules are now a by-law, that is, nothing more than instructions for drivers and pedestrians. But as a federal law, they will earn much better!
Actually, he was not the first to invent this: Russian lawmakers have already put forward similar ideas. For example, back in 2006, the United Russia faction instructed Senator Vladimir Fedorov (the former head of the GAI of Russia) to prepare a consolidated law, which was supposed to include traffic rules and a number of acts regulating traffic. But then the matter did not go beyond the general concept.
And now the Ministry of Transport has developed a draft law "On the organization of traffic." The ministry explains its interest by the fact that the transport problems of cities lead to serious economic losses, which reach 7–9% of GDP per year.
At present, there simply is no set of rules that would clearly distribute responsibilities for organizing movement between departments and authorities at various levels. The main burden lies with the traffic police, but she obviously can not cope. Actually, this is the root of the evil of many road problems.
AT THE COMMISSION BASIS
We think you should not reinvent the wheel. Let's look at world practice! The Vienna Convention on Road Safety, to which Russia has joined, proposes that a state body deal with these issues in close cooperation with public organizations. In Europe, the ministry of transport of a particular country most often acts as the former (and in Spain, for example, the ministry of development). A special commission serves to coordinate the efforts of the state and the public.
The most interesting thing is that in our country there is also a government commission for ensuring road safety, its work is led by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov. The commission includes representatives of seven ministries and departments who are not alien to the problems mentioned. Everything seems to be fine, only this body meets extremely irregularly (on average twice a year) and, although it makes some decisions, all of them are not government decisions. That is, they have no real power. In addition, dear Mr. Shuvalov, in addition to the DB commission, leads several more, for example, on migration policy, development of small and medium-sized businesses, economic development and integration, broadcasting, etc. It is clear that an official of this rank does not even have the opportunity to penetrate to the heart of the problems. So it turns out the classic situation of seven nannies, who, child … You know for yourself.
Another very important point: the government commission, despite its high status, does not have the means (and the right to dispose of them) to implement its decisions. Although each of the participating organizations of the commission has a budget, which, incidentally, provides for the costs of organizing and driving safety. There is also the Federal Database Target Program, for which, by the way, over 50 billion rubles were allocated for five years, but for some reason this money was transferred through the Ministry of Internal Affairs, their fate is largely unknown (ZR, 2012, No. 3).
That's how everything is perfectly arranged with us, so the traffic police has become the "last" agency that organizes traffic and monitors road safety. Although formally in her duties only the last function is inscribed, and then only as a control. At the same time, the traffic police does not manage the money allocated for this purpose - completely different people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs are appointed for this.
By the way, the law “On Police” clearly states that “the main criterion for evaluating the activities of law enforcement agencies is the opinion of the population,” and not the percentage of disclosure of crimes or the number of protocols drawn up. But just nobody is interested in the opinion of the population. And in the government commission of Shuvalov, of course, no representatives of the public are and are not expected. And by and large there’s nobody to call - the organization of motorists we have is small and weak, with experts in traffic management and safety …
More and more often we, journalists, have to play their role. And in our power through the media to talk about the problem and show examples of its solution. Alas, government agencies are not interested in our opinion. At one time, I and several colleagues were invited to participate in the development of bills in a number of committees of the State Duma, but then they stopped calling - apparently, we were not very convenient "co-authors" …
ONE LAW, ONE EXECUTOR
So, the Ministry of Transport believes that it is possible to increase security only by adopting a special law. True, it is not very clear who should be responsible for its implementation; the ministry itself believes that this is not entirely their function (in any case, with the current structure).
“The fact that the topic of the organization of traffic has reached the level of federal law is a very positive fact,” says Mikhail Blinkin, scientific director of the Research Institute of Transport and Road Facilities. - Although, in my opinion, existing laws are in principle sufficient, they are simply not “friends” with each other.
- I am sure that in the country there must be a single state body dealing with traffic and safety issues, and preferably at the rank of the ministry! - Victor Pokhmelkin, the leader of the Russian Motorists' Movement, has no doubt. “Perhaps the new Ministry of Road Transport and Traffic Management could take on these tasks,” the current Ministry of Transport has taken on too many responsibilities and functions in completely different industries. By the way, the traffic police service could also enter the new ministry. And do not be afraid of the symbiosis of civilian and military. The current Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation also has a military structure - the Federal Penitentiary Service. And they get along well …
As you can see, the public has long been in favor. Even the resolution of the conference of leaders of driving schools calls for “creating an expert council under the President of Russia in the country, which is a group of experts on road safety, including scientists and practitioners in this field."
But while we have officially mentioned issues, seven officials are resolving under the leadership of the eighth deputy prime minister, and none of them is responsible for this. So is it worth it to be horrified that death rates are increasing on the roads?
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SAFETY ON THE ROADS - IN THE HANDS OF SEVEN NANNIES
HOW IN EUROPE?
In the European Union, a special body is responsible for road safety - the European Commission for Transport and Traffic; now it is led by Estonian Siim Kallas. It develops documents requiring local authorities, as well as automobile and tire manufacturers to introduce various transport safety programs. Then the rules are approved by the European Parliament. The commission develops short-term and long-term plans. The main goals are the transition to a unified pan-European transport system operating under unified legislation, as well as a 50% reduction in mortality on European roads by 2020. Any resident of the European Union (and not only!) Can contact the commission and its management through the website with a complaint, recommendation or information about the state of transport security. It is believed that thanks to the work of the commission, the number of victims on European roads in 2001–2010 fell by an average of 43% (from 3% in Romania to 58–61% in the Baltic countries).
In addition to the European Commission, two specialized non-governmental organizations are involved in road safety. This organization was founded in 2002 by the German automobile club ADAC, the British automobile association AA and the Dutch club of car tourists ANWB - the European Road Assessment Program (EuroRAP). It conducts an independent assessment of the condition and infrastructure of roads, identifies hazardous areas and proposes measures for their reorganization. In 27 countries of the European Union, EuroRAP cooperates with 65 partner organizations - government agencies (usually ministries of transport), various associations and foundations.
