Finally! Reckless drivers are being penalized
The election campaigns are officially active now. Political strategies are finalized and all parties will be busy in the next month bombarding us with their agendas in the hopes of swaying votes.
Out of all parties, I have yet to see one that is genuinely interested in helping clean up the country. By clean up, I don’t only mean pollution and garbage – which is still a severe problem here (people just don’t seem to care that when they throw their garbage on the streets, that they are polluting the environment in which they live in).
By clean up, I also mean the reduction of road hazards for drivers and pedestrians. The Armenian police department has recently cleaned up their act (at least in the city of Yerevan). You don’t see cops stopping any random car to collect money (gashark) from drivers. Cops are now stopping drivers for violating traffic regulations and giving ticket fines accordingly. I have personally felt and witnessed cases where drivers were stopped for having broken the speed limit, for not having worn their seatbelts (although the majority of cars here do not have seatbelts in their cars), or for having failed to obey the road signs. Fines are quite hefty for the majority of drivers (ranging from at least 3,000 drams up to 75,000 drams) and will hopefully ensure that drivers be more responsible on the roads. I have yet to see, however, a mafia car or one with triple-digit license numbers for instance, being stopped and fined.
Nonetheless, this is still an improvement for us, but there are still problems that I hope the police department will clean up (even after the elections). For instance, there should be a regulation to allow pedestrians to safely cross the street. I am so tired of seeing mothers with very young children or strollers terrified due to a driver that will not allow them to cross (although there should also be a penalty for reckless jay-walkers as well).
Another thing I am anxious to observe is the strict enforcement for children to wear safety belts. I am so horrified to see very young children sitting on the lap of their caregivers in the driver’s seat. What are these people thinking? Don’t they know that these children would fly through the windshield in a split second during an accident?
In the next month, we will be inundated by political election rhetoric, but it remains to be seen whether any of the political parties will have real, authentic and practical agendas that will be valuable and tangible for the country - and whether they will be enforced after the elections. For now, I am quite pleased by the ‘slight’ improvement related to the road safety. I hope that in time and with a bit more education, the road safety will be enhanced and make this place a safer home for us all.
Out of all parties, I have yet to see one that is genuinely interested in helping clean up the country. By clean up, I don’t only mean pollution and garbage – which is still a severe problem here (people just don’t seem to care that when they throw their garbage on the streets, that they are polluting the environment in which they live in).
By clean up, I also mean the reduction of road hazards for drivers and pedestrians. The Armenian police department has recently cleaned up their act (at least in the city of Yerevan). You don’t see cops stopping any random car to collect money (gashark) from drivers. Cops are now stopping drivers for violating traffic regulations and giving ticket fines accordingly. I have personally felt and witnessed cases where drivers were stopped for having broken the speed limit, for not having worn their seatbelts (although the majority of cars here do not have seatbelts in their cars), or for having failed to obey the road signs. Fines are quite hefty for the majority of drivers (ranging from at least 3,000 drams up to 75,000 drams) and will hopefully ensure that drivers be more responsible on the roads. I have yet to see, however, a mafia car or one with triple-digit license numbers for instance, being stopped and fined.
Nonetheless, this is still an improvement for us, but there are still problems that I hope the police department will clean up (even after the elections). For instance, there should be a regulation to allow pedestrians to safely cross the street. I am so tired of seeing mothers with very young children or strollers terrified due to a driver that will not allow them to cross (although there should also be a penalty for reckless jay-walkers as well).
Another thing I am anxious to observe is the strict enforcement for children to wear safety belts. I am so horrified to see very young children sitting on the lap of their caregivers in the driver’s seat. What are these people thinking? Don’t they know that these children would fly through the windshield in a split second during an accident?
In the next month, we will be inundated by political election rhetoric, but it remains to be seen whether any of the political parties will have real, authentic and practical agendas that will be valuable and tangible for the country - and whether they will be enforced after the elections. For now, I am quite pleased by the ‘slight’ improvement related to the road safety. I hope that in time and with a bit more education, the road safety will be enhanced and make this place a safer home for us all.
posted by Lara at 5:14 PM
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