Ion Mereuta: „Old vehicles and uneducated motorists are to blame for disorder on roads”

Used vehicles and reprobable quality shall be eliminated from traffic in order to reduce the number of accidents, according to the chairman of the association for human dignity, Ion Mereuta, doctor habilitatus in medicine and lecturer. Mereuta says that traffic accidents could be on the permanent rise, if the state and local authorities do not take drastic measures in this regard. Professor Mereuta proposes the elimination of old automobiles from traffic as first measure in this regard, saying that they endanger the traffic security and environment. Streets of the capital would be relieved this way, because they are capable to serve about 50,000-70,000 cars while in reality they serve around 200,000 vehicles registered in Chisinau and another 30,000 cars crossing the capital in transit. A set of important economic, legal, educational measures would enhance the education of participants in traffic, in particular, of motorists. They create situations of accident because they violate the regular speed, including on streets with many pedestrians; they are always in a hurry, do not let pedestrians cross the street, they drive in prohibited places, cross when the colour of the semaphore does not allow this, discuss by mobile telephones while executing manoeuvres. „The disorder in streets will continue as long as the culture level is low and motorists are not trained enough,” Mereuta underlined. Speaking about quality od roads, he said that it is very bad. He considers that a law on roads shall be adopted and a national fund of roads shall be created. The money used to renovate and repair the roads shall be controlled while this business shall be transparent, so that every participant in traffic knows for what the money he pays for roads every year is spent. If not, Mereuta continued, the quality of roads will be like at present, when the asphalt is deteriorated after less than a year of use. He stressed that the materials used for asphalting shall be tested while competent authorities shall explain why the asphalt in civilised countries must not be renovated at least 10 years while Moldova must repair it every year. About 600 traffic accidents took place in Moldova this year; 68 persons died and another 600 were hurt.