We Have Made a Revolution, So Should We Be Fined? Soft Policies Led to an Increase in Accidents

In the last 10 years, the number of vehicles has multiplied by 2 to 2.5 times. This was stated today by Sergey Ghahramanyan, co-founder of the NGO ‘Driver's Friend,’ during a press conference with journalists. If ten years ago there were 10, 15, at most 20 thousand vehicles imported, in 2018 more than 70 thousand vehicles have been imported.

Ghahramanyan notes that alongside the increase in the number of vehicles, very few new roads have been constructed in the capital. “Only Monte Melkonyan Street has probably been built. Every day, 350-400 vehicles are in traffic in Yerevan, and this is coupled with the ways of obtaining driving licenses and inexperienced drivers. All of this has led to an increase in accidents, with the number of traffic accidents rising,” he emphasized. The number of incidents as of November 30, 2018, stood at 61 thousand, compared to 53 thousand in 2017.

“It would be wrong to say that the number of vehicles plays a role in the increase of traffic accidents. After April and May, the police adopted a soft policy, which led some drivers to overlook the law. Offending drivers say, ‘We have made a revolution, so should we be fined?’ In other words, people interpreted the so-called soft policy differently,” he pointed out.