On 3rd April 2012 EASST’s partner in Armenia, Poghos Shahinyan, attended a roundtable discussion of the Ukrainian Committee on Legislative Support of Law Enforcement. The discussion, chaired by Committee Chairman Mr Viktor Shvets, focused on ‘Legislative initiatives towards road safety as an important step to improve the situation on the roads’.
Mr Shvets opened the discussion with a speech on ‘Road safety – an important direction in the legislative activity of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine’, commenting that both the Committee and the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) pay considerable attention to the legislative support of road safety in Ukraine.
Mr Shvets referred to the benefits of the implementation of Ukrainian Law No. 586, but also referred to its limitations and problematic provisions such as the use of video capturing devices, rules for the withdrawal of licenses, and the seizure of vehicles. He commented that the state should: “form a single integrated information system of road safety control on the basis of a unified methodology and standards of data collection and processing.” In addition he stated that “all action plans should be developed by a single national coordination agency.”
EASST Partner Poghos Shahinyan, Head of the Secretariat of the National Road Safety Council of Armenia, shared his experience in dealing with road safety in Armenia and the work of the Council in developing a national strategy.
The Committee made a series of recommendations following the meeting, including the implementation of a Road Safety Improvement Strategy in Ukraine before 2015, creation of the single coordinating body for road safety, the review and improvement of the system of road signs, and the development and implementation of road safety education programmes in schools.
Mr Shahinyan also attended meetings with EASST’s Ukrainian partner Yegor Kalashnikov of Road Safety Support – a new NGO working on road safety issues. Key to EASST’s mission is the exchange of best practice between its partner countries and others in the region. In addition to sharing his experience with Committee, Poghos also visited Moldova in March 2012 to exchange experience there.
Related Links:
You Tube News: www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-IBg8JlZJQ (from 04:35 to 07:50)
Website of Verkhovna Rada: http://portal.rada.gov.ua/rada/control/en/publish/article/info_left?art_id=304133&cat_id=105995.
