Krasnodar, 3 December. Our today’s interviewee is Aleksandr Sheludchenko, Head of Outreach Office of the Traffic Police in Krasnodar.
Q.: What are the main causes of traffic accidents with children?
A.: The main cause is violations of the rules of pedestrian crossings, whose number rose by 10% compared with 2019. Another frequent cause is violation of the rules of passenger carriage, because kids often act as passengers. In summer, there is one more cause – a sudden appearance in the yard space. When a school year starts, the issue of accidents on pedestrian crossings gets extremely important. During nine months of this year, in 33 vehicle/pedestrian accidents which occurred in Krasnodar within pedestrian crossings, one teenager died and 32 were injured. It is noteworthy that 12 accidents happened due to the kids’ negligence.
Q.: What is the most dangerous age?
A.: Starting from the second form, pupils are getting used to walking to their school and back home without being accompanied by adults – and this is when problems may start, especially if a kid has not been taught to discipline or is inattentive by nature. Parents should always talk to their kids about the behaviour on the road; it should become a usual conversational topic, similar to the kid’s grades, homework, etc. A high risk for kids on the road lasts till the ninth grade – becoming adolescent, they often grow hot-blooded and impulsive.
Q.: Are there ‘young traffic inspectors’ in the region now?
A.: Yes, a young traffic inspector squad operated in every school. Altogether, 3,500 children are involved in this public activity. I can say that they are ‘our hands’ at schools. The squads have a concrete working plan for kids of this concrete school; together with their manager, young inspectors develop activities meant to prevent road traffic injuries: lessons at situation grounds, road safety grounds, and in offices. We work with the young inspectors in the Gorodok Children’s Centre, where each school has specially allocated time. Our outreach officers and teachers work with the young inspectors who, in their turn, convey their knowledge to their classmates.
Q.: Does the problem of safety of hoverboards, electric segways and other individual means of getting around exist in our region?
A.: Yes, the problem does exist, and it has become especially urgent in the southern regions. Such ‘individual transports’ may move as fast as 100 km/h, while there exist no legal requirements to any protective gears or knowledge of the traffic rules by their drivers. This year, one of the ‘drivers’ of such transport got into an accident while moving at 70 km/h, and died on the spot. It happened because after hitting a car, he ricocheted to a power line pole.
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