Epress.am News from Armenia
Compared with 2009, the number of road traffic accidents decreased in 2010, said Armenia’s Chief of Road Traffic Police, Colonel Margar Ohanyan, speaking to journalists in Yerevan today and summing up the year while promising to reduce such accidents to a minimum in 2011.
According to him, they have already been able to reduce the number of “kids who think they’re cool” who drive through a red light. Also reduced are the number of those who talk on cell phones and throw trash out the window while driving.
Furthermore, Ohanyan said that 37 of their employees were subject to disciplinary action this year, while 7 were dismissed from their duties.
On the topic of compulsory automobile insurance (APPA), Ohanyan said this law will take effect beginning from Jan. 1, 2011, and they will follow the procedures prescribed by law to administer it.
Speaking about patrols during the New Year’s Eve holidays, Ohanyan said, considering the unfortunate events of this year Jan. 1, when there were 12 recorded incidents of road traffic accidents resulting in 3 dead and 19 injured, stricter control will be implemented this year so as to avoid such tragedies.
As for drunk drivers, according to Ohanyan, they will have a zero tolerance policy, particularly over the holidays. “All will be punished to the fullest extent of the law. No one should get behind the wheel while drunk, so that innocent people are not harmed and neither their nor others’ New Year’s Eve is not ruined.”