At the meeting of the Interdepartmental Commission on prevention of offences under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov considered measures to ensure safety on the roads. On the situation across the country reported the Minister of Internal Affairs Yerzhan Sadenov, the report was also made by the Minister of Transport Marat Karabayev, heard akims of a number of regions.

In order to ensure transport discipline, the introduction of digital solutions continues. 25,000 automatic cameras for recording traffic offences have been installed in cities. Patrol cars are equipped with in-built radars. Covert patrols are being carried out. The Head of State has signed a law to tighten requirements for mopeds. Registration of this type of vehicles will begin in January 2025. Minister of Internal Affairs Yerzhan Sadenov drew special attention to the growth of the car fleet of the country - for 5 years it has increased by 34%, or 1.4 million vehicles.

The Minister of Transport Marat Karabayev reported on the measures taken to ensure road safety. By the end of 2024, out of 12,000 kilometres of roads covered by the repair, 7,000 kilometres have been fully completed. Such important highways as Almaty-Karaganda, Taldykorgan-Ust-Kamenogorsk, Aktobe-Atyrau-Astrakhan and Merke-Burylbaital have been launched. In order to exclude road accidents with pedestrians 65 bypasses of cities and settlements, 34 elevated crossings were built. To prevent animals from entering the carriageway, 2,000 km of fences and 383 cattle drives have been built. More than 5 thousand square metres of noise strips have been built on accident-prone areas, 450 LED road signs and 1.5 thousand road buffers have been installed. Marat Karabaev informed the head of the Government about the entry into force from the beginning of 2025 new requirements for private carriers using Internet platforms. According to the changes, persons providing taxi services will be required to undergo daily pre-trip and post-trip medical examinations, technical inspection of vehicles.

Olzhas Bektenov stressed that in the Address the Head of State drew attention to the accident rate on the roads. Regions taking insufficient measures to prevent road accidents were noted. Thus, in Zhambyl region, Turkestan region, as well as in Abay and Zhetysu regions, Shymkent city, the Carpeting with Video Surveillance Systems project is incompletely implemented. At the same time, the ‘Vision Zero’ programme was developed only in Almaty and Pavlodar. In addition, the instruction to increase the rate of coverage of country roads with mobile communication has not been fulfilled. Prime Minister has set a task to intensify work in this direction, including revision of approaches to prevent offences caused by alcohol intoxication of road users.

"The Head of State in his address paid special attention to the accident rate on the roads. We have toughened criminal and administrative responsibility for traffic offences. Nevertheless, the number of drunk and previously disqualified drivers is not sharply decreasing. Since the beginning of the year, about 11.5 million traffic offences have been stopped. More than 22 thousand ‘drunk’ drivers have been detained. Practice shows that the strictest measures should be applied to such offenders. It is necessary to revise approaches to prevent such offences," he said.

Following the results of the meeting a number of instructions were given to the relevant departments:

• to expand the functionality and operability of cameras to record violations, including drivers talking on the phone, unbuckled seat belts, failure to allow pedestrians at crossings, parking in undesignated places, movement of passenger vehicles on bus lines; to increase the network of mobile cameras of covert surveillance;
• Ministries of Internal Affairs and Transport - to revise the system of technical inspections of vehicles;
• Akimats of the regions - to increase the number of pedestrian crossings with traffic light regulation, install fences and lighting, take additional measures to create a safe road infrastructure.
• The Ministries of Internal Affairs, Education, Culture and Information, and Akimats have been instructed to intensify awareness-raising work on compliance with road traffic rules and safety.

#The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan #Highways #Interagency Commission #Ministry of Internal Affairs #Transport