Prime Minister Ion Chicu called on the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI) to identify and implement new mechanisms to augment road safety in the context in which statistical data show an increase of 7.5% in the number of accidents in 2019, compared to the whole 2018 year. The most frequent cause is excessive speed. The subject was addressed at the meeting of the National Council for Road Traffic Safety, held today at Government, IPN reports.
The prime minister has noted that in 2020 the Road Fund will be larger than in 2019 and will reach 2.350 billion lei. Of this amount, 1.718 billion will be managed by the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure, and 832 million will be distributed to local administrations.
According to a report of the MAI presented at the meeting, the roads that connect settlements are the most dangerous, half of the serious accidents occur on them. Most accidents are caused by excessive speed.
"All our efforts must be directed at reducing the number of these tragic cases. I want you to focus less on the prepared documents, and more on the real situation, what conclusions can we draw and what can we do right now to stop dangerous tendencies. The life and safety of our citizens is an absolute priority”, said Prime Minister Ion Chicu.
Among the immediate measures that can be taken there were mentioned the provision of road markings, the illumination of pedestrian crossings, the increased surveillance in settlements and on routes where most road accidents occur.
Chief consultant at the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure, Ion Cotruță, said that in 2019 the road marking was applied on only 207 km of road, with just over five thousand indicators installed.
Corneliu Popovici, Minister of Education, Culture and Research, has noted that school buses are often out of order and that better monitoring of these means of transport is needed. In his turn, the prime minister asked the Ministry of Education to find practical ways to educate school children on the importance of road safety.
On November 1, 2019, over one million transport units were registered in Moldova.
