In the Moscow region, on June 26, a group of motorists raided the roadside to fight drivers trying to avoid traffic jams. Judging by the footage of the video, published On the 12RUS Youtube channel, Denis coordinated the actions of several public vehicles and a truck via radio.
Trying not to let the “Obochechnik” get off the road from the side of the road, they moved next to him in a common column. Some pulled themselves to the side of the road, overtaking the traffic flow and braking hard. The driver of the long-wheelbase Lada Niva was suddenly pulled to the side of the road from behind the truck, causing a collision with the Mazda CX-5 crossover.
Several Youtube channels run by unofficial community members are dedicated to protecting the roadsides from traffic offenders. They regularly conduct impromptu raids and film conflicts with other drivers on video. Judging by the comments of the participants, they may even be interested in a certain “action” of the road, which later turns into views on social networks.
“The raid continues great as always – there is a first crash” commented The accident is the author of the video, the driver of the truck.
Beneath each such video, activists leave their payment system accounts for sponsor channels and debit card numbers for donation transfers.
Killed a dragon and became a dragon
Moving to the side of the road to avoid congestion has a negative impact on both road safety and road capacity, says Mikhail Blinkin, director of the HSE Institute for Transport Economics and Transport Policy.
“Driving by the side of the road is an element of domestic rudeness. Likewise, a person can behave on the street or in the hallway. From the point of view of the movement of the traffic flow, this is primarily dangerous, because because of this, a point of turbulence is created, which is taken from nothing more than human stupidity, ”Blinkin told socialbites.ca.
Such “turbulence spots” in a smooth-moving traffic flow often turn into accidents. It also negatively affects the capacity of the road, reducing the speed of traffic: if cars are moving slowly but not trying to fit into the lane, then the movement has to stop, he adds.
However, the lawyer of the Freedom of Choice automobile movement, Sergei Radko, is confident that manifestations of arbitrariness in the fight against violations are unacceptable from the point of view of law and are ineffective with the aim of neutralizing the phenomenon itself. In addition, during their actions, bona fide people repeatedly violate traffic rules and cause accidents.
“I am sure such a phenomenon is harmful, and an example of this is the StopHam action, which eventually turned into a criminal case.
Such actions are not arresting or punishing the perpetrators, but simply provoking conflict in order to “swallow” such a hot topic,” he said.
Radko takes notes in an interview with socialbites.ca.
The paradox is that roadside defenders drive by roadside almost more often than their counterparts, and
For this, the lawyer notes, activists can be brought to administrative responsibility for each such episode.
After reviewing the videos of the activists, he points out that among his violations, sudden lane changes without signaling, pushing drivers out of lanes, violating the right of transportation and, of course, causing accidents.
To combat negative phenomena, first of all, the conditions of their occurrence should be excluded: they often drive along the side of the road where traffic is organized in such a way that it is almost always impossible to drive without traffic jams. day, he says.
“For some reason, there are very few cameras in such places where roadside driving is carried out. But they stabilize and stabilize the speed at which they can be exceeded in a safe and non-critical way for movement,” Radko says, noting the solution to the problem.
This type of arbitrariness has always emerged in times of great distress, and it is wrong to fight rudeness on the roads with more rudeness.
He thinks of Yang Haytseer, vice president of the “National Automobile Association.”
“If people have the time and energy, why not point them in the right things? Heitzeer told socialbites.ca that video cameras and traffic cops should take part in the fight against “barriers”, because they are representatives of the law. Citizens struggling with “Obochechnik” are substituted, creating emergencies while they themselves violate traffic rules.”
Avoiding roadside traffic jams is an extremely unpleasant, unsightly phenomenon, especially in summer, when it covers cars with a layer of dust. But at the same time, he adds that such behavior of drivers is caused by extreme circumstances, for example, the need to deliver a sick person to the hospital.
You must understand that with “Kasers” an important goal of amateur fighters is to provoke a conflict in order to shoot a beautiful shocking video and get some feedback from subscribers.
“Those caught by such activists (most likely in one case) may be advised to use a video recorder, return to the stream, avoid a shootout, and in extreme cases call the police.
In any case, I do not justify the actions of one or the other ”
Heitzer emphasizes.
socialbites.ca contacted the press center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with questions about the legality of the actions of fighters against the “obochechnik”, but at the time of publication of the material, the editorial office did not receive a response. A letter sent to the authors of the Youtube channel with a request to explain their motivation remained unanswered.