The Ministry of Transport and Road Management (MTRM), Chisinau City Hall, as well as the central authorities in charge of the transport of passengers, do not participate in inspecting economic entities which provide taxi services. This conclusion was made within the roundtable “Critical situation on the roads of the country, generated by the inappropriate situation in the field of transport of passengers”, attended by decision-making authorities from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other governmental institutions, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the MIA, a real cause of the multiple violations of the Road Regulations is the fact that many taxi drivers drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs, lack of control on the way their employees work on the part of taxi companies, and the fact that the Ministry of Health (MH) does not get involved in this activity. A series of companies do not have their own vehicles and rent cars. The work schedule of the drivers is not respected, the majority of them working 24 hours, a fact confirmed by inspections. About 1600 drivers have non-professional driver’s licences and some of them are not even 21 years old. Of the total number of economic entities, only 25% have their own logistics and maintenance support, which would offer the possibility to repair the cars in a centralised way, or perform the overhaul before and after the shift, as well as the medical inspection of the drivers. The technical condition of the cars owned by those 59 economic entities providing taxi services do not comply with necessary standards and are not endowed with passive security equipment. In this context, the Chisinau City Hall did not keep its promises – did not provide special places for the parking of cabs, does not organise periodic overhauls of the cabs. The participants to the public discussion decided to work out the Strategy on the development of road transport in Moldova. MTRM will determine the rate of cabs in the transport of passengers, taking into consideration the real demand and will make proposals to amendment the legislation. Based on a joint activity plan, the MTRM together with the Licensing Chamber and other central bodies, will inspect the activity of the economic entities which provide taxi services, so as to make them observe the conditions stipulated in the licence, as well as of the legal provisions on the employment of drivers and work schedule. It was decided to organise technical testing of cabs. MH will verify the activity of the economic entities which provide taxi services, in what concerns sobriety; the Ministry of Social Protection, of Family and Child will inspect the activity of these companies in what concerns the working conditions provided to the employees. According to statistics, in the first four months of 2007, the taxi drivers were involved in 50 serious traffic accidents in the municipality of Chisinau, as a result of which 1 person died and 49 were traumatised, and out of 129 minor accidents involving cabs, 127 occurred because of the cab drivers.