Sequential decrease in mortality: the Ministry of Internal Affairs published statistics of road accidents for the first half of 2019

On the specialized portal of the traffic police of Russia published statistics on road accidents in the country in the first six months of 2019.

According to the ministry, during this time 70 151 accidents occurred in the country with injuries, in which 6,763 people died and another 90.1 thousand were injured.

Despite such frightening figures, as compared with the first half of 2018, road mortality has decreased by more than 5%. But the total number of accidents with injuries and the number of injured remain approximately at the same level as last year.

This trend has been observed in recent years - the number of deaths on the roads has been consistently decreasing, but the rate of this reduction is gradually slowing down.

Among the most important and notable achievements of the State Traffic Inspectorate in the first six months is a noticeable reduction in the number of accidents involving drunk drivers. In recent years, the fight against drunkenness behind the wheel has placed a special emphasis.

In the first 6 months of 2019, over 5.6 thousand such accidents were recorded (6.8 thousand in the same period in 2018), in which 1319 people were killed (1913 victims a year earlier) and 7916 people were injured (more than a thousand less than in the first half of the previous year). The number of dead and wounded in an accident with drivers who refused to receive medical relief also decreased, albeit not so noticeably.

Most likely, in the second half of the year, the statistics of “drunk” accidents will improve even more. The fact is that on June 28, amendments to the “driver’s” Art. 264 of the Criminal Code, which significantly tightens the responsibility for drunk drivers for accidents with serious consequences.

Now, the perpetrators of such accidents are actually equated to the killers - in particular, for an accident with two or more dead, the perpetrator faces from 8 to 15 years in prison. Given the wide information company that accompanied the adoption of the document, the prospect of such a punishment will certainly affect many motorists.

At the same time, last spring, the State Duma legally equated drivers, who left the places of road accidents with serious consequences, to drunk motorists. This was done in order to close the loophole, which drunk drivers used - they ran away from the scene of the incident, and then, soberly, came to the police, where they were threatened with less responsibility. It is possible that this may affect the statistics of "drunk" accidents upwards.

Another direction in which traffic police makes a noticeable effort - is to reduce the number of accidents involving pedestrians. In the first half of the year, the ministry recorded an improvement in the situation, albeit not as drastic as in the case of drunk accidents.

In total, during the first half of this year, 20.4 thousand accidents occurred in which pedestrians suffered (21.2 thousand in the same period of 2018), in which 1775 people died (1969 victims in 2018) and more than 19, 4 thousand (almost 20.1 thousand a year ago).

It also became noticeably less accidents due to poor road conditions. The traffic police calculated that in the first half of the year, due to violations of the mandatory requirements for the operational condition of the roads, almost 27.4 thousand road accidents occurred, in which about 2.3 thousand people died and over 35 thousand were injured.

Despite the frightening figures, a year ago, the picture was much worse - there were almost 15% more such accidents then, the number of victims was 2.7 thousand, and the wounded 40 thousand people.

Not too noticeably, but the number of serious road accidents involving buses has decreased. In the first half of the year, more than 2.5 thousand such accidents were recorded, 100 people died and more than 3.8 thousand were injured.

The picture with accident rate and at railway crossings improved somewhat. Since the beginning of the year, the number of such accidents has decreased by 10% - a total of 101 severe accidents were recorded, in which 22 died (a year earlier 37) and 135 people were injured.

The controversial situation so far develops with accidents in which children suffered. The number of children killed in road accidents in the first half of the year decreased by almost 10%, to 316 people, but the total number of such accidents and the number of injured people increased.

Approximately the same picture is observed in the case of motorcyclists. In 2019, there was a slight decrease in the number of victims of road accidents with their participation, while the number of such accidents, as well as the injuries in them, increased. Thus, in the first half of the year, more than 1.9 thousand traffic accidents occurred, in which 208 people died and over 2 thousand were injured.

This year, the statistics of traffic accidents with serious consequences with the participation of novice drivers - with experience of up to two years. In the first half of the year, more than 3.9 thousand such accidents were recorded, in which 327 died and more than 5.5 thousand were injured. A year earlier, all three indicators were lower, while the death toll in 2019 jumped by almost 20%.

Another unpleasant call for traffic police - the growth of accidents involving technically faulty vehicles. In the first half of the year, over 2.8 thousand accidents occurred, in which 437 people died and almost 4.1 thousand were injured.

All three indicators were significantly higher than last year. The situation can be corrected by a change in the rules for inspection, in particular the introduction of a video recording procedure, as well as the return of traffic control authorities to monitor compliance with all inspection rules. The corresponding bill was signed by Vladimir Putin in early June of this year, but will come into force only in June 2020.

The accident rate in Russia has consistently decreased for many years in a row, and with it the number of dead and wounded on the roads decreases annually. So, last year 18.2 thousand people died on the roads, about 215 thousand more were injured. A peculiar peak of mortality in road accidents was recorded at the beginning of the XXI century, when the number of accident victims per year sometimes exceeded 35 thousand people, that is, it was almost twice as many as it is now.