Introduction of Mandatory Car Insurance Artificially Inflated Rise in Road Accidents in Armenia: Police

In the first 7 months of 2011, there were 1,135 traffic accidents recorded in Armenia, as a result of which 150 people died, while 1,697 people received bodily injuries, said chief of the road patrol service division of Armenia’s traffic police Norik Sargsyan, while meeting with journalists in the Armenian capital on Wednesday.

The police chief noted that compared to the same period last year, traffic accidents increased by 143, the number of deaths increased by 14, and the number of those injured rose by 357.

“On one hand, the introduction of APPA [mandatory vehicle insurance introduced at the start of this year] encouraged the recording of all accidents which resulted in an artificial increase; on the other hand, the number of imported vehicles is growing quite rapidly. In the [first] 7 months of 2011 alone, 15,428 vehicles were imported into Armenia, which is a 15% increase. The increase [in traffic accidents] is due to this, but there’s nothing unusual in this. There were only 150 deaths in 7 months, while in previous years there were 300–400 deaths. That is to say, in terms of an increase in the number of deaths, we have nothing to be concerned about,” he said.