According to the results of 9 months of 2022, 17,241 (21.6%) traffic accidents related to speeding were registered in Russia. As a result of such incidents, 2810 people died and more than 11 thousand people were injured.
The culprits of such accidents are less inattentive or inexperienced drivers than reckless drivers who irresponsibly exceed the speed limit. Are there ways to get them to take their foot off the accelerator?
What is “recklessness”
On May 30, 2016, by a decree of the Government of the Russian Federation, the term “dangerous driving” was introduced into the traffic rules. This concept implies the repeated execution of actions aimed at non-compliance with traffic rules. These actions include intentionally narrowing the distance between cars, cutting, abrupt braking that is not necessary to avoid a collision, preventing overtaking and intentionally damaging vehicles of road users.
Another hallmark of aggressive driving is a malicious violation of the speed limit, which is popularly referred to as “recklessness”. Meanwhile, speed is the leading cause of serious consequences in an accident, and according to the Moscow Traffic Inspectorate, speed difference with specific conditions is one of the five most common causes of fatal accidents.
Despite the fact that the term “dangerous driving” and its characteristic maneuvers are described in the traffic rules, sanctions for aggressive driving are not included in the current version of the Russian Code of Administrative Violations: experts and lawmakers could not agree on a objective qualification of the driver’s behavior as “dangerous”.
How do you stop a burner?
Russian road safety experts admit administrative liability for speeding offenders does not end. Fines can be many times more effective in combination with the combined control of photo and video cameras and traffic police inspectors. This method of control – the “Pit-stop” system – is already used on the roads of Moscow and the region.
An effective way to “calm down” reckless motorists on our roads, according to Svetlana Zabolotskaya, general director of the public organization “Road Safety Union”, can also be the use of speed control on a long stretch of road, when the speed of the car is reduced. measured using two synchronized cameras that record the vehicle’s license plate and the exact travel time at the start and end of the controlled section. At the same time, at the end of the section, the complex calculates the speed at which the car overcame it. Among drivers, this “dual camera” technology is called “average speed control”.
Expert opinion
Svetlana Zabolotskaya, General Director of the Public Organization “Road Safety Union”
“This control method has a positive effect on driving style: on controlled extended sections, the speed of the traffic flow becomes more even and calm, sharp overtaking maneuvers are excluded – therefore this method can become one of the tools to avoid dangerous situations. the driving. Such control technology encourages drivers to maintain a uniform speed over the entire road section and not just reduce it in front of the camera, explains the expert. – In this way we get rid of unreasonable accelerations and decelerations – the so-called “kangaroo effect”. The HSE Institute for Transport Economics and Transport Policy has published the results of a study showing that the number of collisions in controlled areas with medium speed is reduced by up to 13 times more compared to areas not equipped with cameras, and the number of deaths, for example in the summer 4.5 times – is this not proof that the method is effective?
Source: Z R
