ALL TV companies have announced about the government’s decision, according to which it is obligatory to fasten car belts. By an interesting coincidence I was stopped by the traffic police on my way to work after my holiday and they gave me a bill for not fastening the belts. “The prime-minister has instructed so, it is stricter now,” they said. When I arrived at the office I opened the government’s web site and attentively read the prime-minister’s speech. “The traffic in Armenia is not secure… The death number in our country is higher compared to other countries. The main reason is that people don’t follow the security norms. We should be very strict to make our drivers follow the security rules. You must demand from your drivers to use seat belts, which are not used now,” said Tigran Sargsyan.
These words are true, however it is not the problem. All of us understand that it is a right decision to fasten the seat belts, but we don’t do so. For example, people know that smoking is dangerous but they still smoke. In case of smoking the body gets used to smoke but in case of the seat belts the situation is different. What is the reason? Despite the fact that belts are uncomfortable, especially in summer, it is also a fact that there is a problem with the mentality and the Armenian men think that it is shameful to fasten their car seat belts (the prime-minister said this too). The more expensive the car is the more shameful it is to follow the law. For example, for a cheap car driver it is shameful to fasten the belt, but for an expensive car driver it is also shameful to stop under the red light. Only two drivers out of 100 ones are using the seat belts. “It would be better if the police started this procedure from itself to be an example for others. You should use the seat belts in order to be able to demand from other drivers to use them as well,” said Tigran Sargsyan. However during the past three days I have not seen any policeman who would use the seat belt. It shows that the traffic sector needs a lot of time in our country to be regulated.
The second reason why we can’t be optimistic is our experience, for example some time ago the police decided not to allow buses and microbuses carry standing passengers. However shortly everything was the same again. Certainly it is good to have more secure traffic. If people follow the law there won’t be many losses and tourists will not go mad to see the traffic. The problem is that there are a lot of laws and regulations such as fighting corruption and other laws, but these laws don’t work until the government don’t control the law-enforcement bodies, otherwise they think of filling their pockets only.
What is the benefit of this new regulation? Firstly, it is stray the attention of people from other issues and major political problems. Second, it will enable the government to demonstrate that they are working. Third, it will fill the state budget and not only the budget… For example the prime-minister said that the huge number of traffic accidents impacts the GDP. In consideration of the fact that most of the drivers don’t fasten their seat belts, they may charge a lot of money to transfer to the budget and their pockets. If it is about human and financial losses it is pretty hard to assume whether it is good or no to use the car seat belts. Anyway drivers have a choice between fastening their car belts or their pockets where they should have 5000 dram in case they are stopped by the traffic police.