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18 KILLED, DOZENS INJURED IN BUS CRASH
The Moscow Times, Russia
July 15 2013
15 July 2013 | Issue 5168
By Natalya Krainova
Rescue workers sorting through the wreckage at the scene of the
bus crash outside Moscow that killed 18 and injured dozens more
on Saturday.
Eighteen people were killed and more than 60 injured Saturday in a
bus crash outside of Moscow that police say was caused by a truck
driver who had racked up seven traffic violations last year.
The crash, a grim reminder of the dangers of driving in Moscow that
is likely to revive calls for tighter traffic legislation, occurred
around 1 p.m. Saturday, when a Kamaz truck carrying rubble rammed into
a bus near the village of Oznobishino in New Moscow, 22 kilometers
southwest of the capital, Interfax reported.
Fourteen bus passengers died at the scene and four more died in
hospital later Saturday.
At least 61 people were injured and more than 30 passengers were
initially hospitalized, 15 of whom were in critical condition.
According to the latest information available Sunday evening, 29
passengers remained in hospitals in Moscow and the region as of late
Saturday, the Moscow branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry said
on its website.
Acting Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and Acting Moscow region governor
Andrei Vorobyov declared Monday a day of mourning in the city and
the region, City Hall's website said.
A 34-second video of the crash published by LifeNews and recorded by
a passing driver shows the truck driver turning from a perpendicular
road onto the main road and driving into the path of an oncoming bus.
The truck driver evidently tried to swerve, but the truck's side
slammed into the side of the bus at full speed, almost literally
tearing the bus in two. The video shows the truck driver standing on
the road seconds after the crash and dusting himself off.
Police suspect the truck driver, an unidentified 46-year-old Armenian
national who was driving with an Armenian license, violated traffic
rules by failing to yield to the bus, a city police source told
Interfax.
The truck driver, who spent one day in a medically induced coma, has
been detained by police for 48 hours but refused to testify Sunday,
without giving an explanation. Police attributed his refusal to his
feeling sick, Interfax reported.
The Interior Ministry said it would seek the driver's arrest.
On Sunday, acting regional governor Vorobyov called for a tightening
of the punishment for traffic violations, a sentiment voiced by Moscow
police chief Anatoly Yakunin in the wake of an earlier crash.
"This case once again makes us talk about the tightening of rules that
concern public traffic, the transportation of passengers," Vorobyov
told a government meeting, the official regional website reported.
Punishment should be stricter for drivers using temporary or transit
license plates that have expired, the acting governor said, noting
that the truck driver suspected in Saturday's accident had transit
license plates on his car, Interfax reported.
A police officer inspecting items left over from the collision. Monday
has been declared a day of mourning. (Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters)
"Public transportation and deliveries of cargos require
professionalism," Vorobyov said.
The acting governor also announced an extraordinary inspection of the
region's almost 6,000 public buses, as well as "difficult crossroads,"
where traffic lights will be installed.
The truck driver's past violations included crossing into the oncoming
lane and driving a car in an improper technical condition.
But Viktor Pokhmelkin, head of the Movement of Russian Motorists,
said that seven violations of traffic rules don't necessarily mean
that the driver would be stripped of his license, and Armenian driving
licenses are valid in Russia.
Even a gross violation like crossing into the oncoming lane would lead
to disqualification from driving only if witnessed and protocoled by
a traffic policeman, Pokhmelkin said by telephone.
If the violation is recorded by a video camera and the driver is
notified by mail, however, he will only be fined a few thousand rubles,
the lawyer said.
And despite past violations, Pokhmelkin said, the truck driver was
not necessarily to blame for the crash, as the intersection where
Saturday's crash occurred is known for frequent collisions.
"It is possible that there is something wrong with the organization
of the traffic movement there," he said.
Popular blogger Rustem Adagamov wrote on his Facebook page Sunday
that the road from which the truck driver turned onto the main road
was winding and had no traffic signs on it, making it impossible for
the truck driver to see the bus in time. Adagamov published photos
of the road to prove his point.
A bus passenger who survived the crash, however, told Komsomolskaya
Pravda that she had seen the truck coming from far away.
While Saturday's crash has already resulted in calls for tighter
legislation, Viktor Travin, president of the Moscow-based Board for
Legal Defense, a firm that defends drivers, said that more should
be done to prevent violations from occurring in the first place and
that "the state must care about preventing violations, not about
punishment."
According to Travin, fines for traffic violations were raised on
average every six months in Russia in the past 20 years, though that
has not reduced the number of traffic violations.
"Instead, the fight against the violators has turned into a fight to
replenish the [state] budget," he said.
On Tuesday, City Hall and the Moscow region government will decide
whether to pay compensation of 1 million rubles ($31,000) to the
relatives of each of those who died in Saturday's crash, and 500,000
rubles to each of the injured, Vorobyov said Sunday.
The victims also have the right to apply to the SOGAZ company, where
the bus was insured, for compensation, SOGAZ spokesman Nikolai Galushin
told Interfax.
A law passed in January gives passengers the right to claim up to 2
million rubles ($62,000) in compensation from carriers.
In October, a collision of two cars at a Moscow intersection in which
two people were killed, including popular actress Marina Golub,
prompted Moscow's police chief to order traffic police to take
measures to prevent such an accident from happening again, including
a tightening of legislation.
The driver deemed responsible for October's crash had also repeatedly
been fined for traffic violations.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/18-killed-dozens-injured-in-bus-crash/483130.html
The Moscow Times, Russia
July 15 2013
15 July 2013 | Issue 5168
By Natalya Krainova
Rescue workers sorting through the wreckage at the scene of the
bus crash outside Moscow that killed 18 and injured dozens more
on Saturday.
Eighteen people were killed and more than 60 injured Saturday in a
bus crash outside of Moscow that police say was caused by a truck
driver who had racked up seven traffic violations last year.
The crash, a grim reminder of the dangers of driving in Moscow that
is likely to revive calls for tighter traffic legislation, occurred
around 1 p.m. Saturday, when a Kamaz truck carrying rubble rammed into
a bus near the village of Oznobishino in New Moscow, 22 kilometers
southwest of the capital, Interfax reported.
Fourteen bus passengers died at the scene and four more died in
hospital later Saturday.
At least 61 people were injured and more than 30 passengers were
initially hospitalized, 15 of whom were in critical condition.
According to the latest information available Sunday evening, 29
passengers remained in hospitals in Moscow and the region as of late
Saturday, the Moscow branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry said
on its website.
Acting Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and Acting Moscow region governor
Andrei Vorobyov declared Monday a day of mourning in the city and
the region, City Hall's website said.
A 34-second video of the crash published by LifeNews and recorded by
a passing driver shows the truck driver turning from a perpendicular
road onto the main road and driving into the path of an oncoming bus.
The truck driver evidently tried to swerve, but the truck's side
slammed into the side of the bus at full speed, almost literally
tearing the bus in two. The video shows the truck driver standing on
the road seconds after the crash and dusting himself off.
Police suspect the truck driver, an unidentified 46-year-old Armenian
national who was driving with an Armenian license, violated traffic
rules by failing to yield to the bus, a city police source told
Interfax.
The truck driver, who spent one day in a medically induced coma, has
been detained by police for 48 hours but refused to testify Sunday,
without giving an explanation. Police attributed his refusal to his
feeling sick, Interfax reported.
The Interior Ministry said it would seek the driver's arrest.
On Sunday, acting regional governor Vorobyov called for a tightening
of the punishment for traffic violations, a sentiment voiced by Moscow
police chief Anatoly Yakunin in the wake of an earlier crash.
"This case once again makes us talk about the tightening of rules that
concern public traffic, the transportation of passengers," Vorobyov
told a government meeting, the official regional website reported.
Punishment should be stricter for drivers using temporary or transit
license plates that have expired, the acting governor said, noting
that the truck driver suspected in Saturday's accident had transit
license plates on his car, Interfax reported.
A police officer inspecting items left over from the collision. Monday
has been declared a day of mourning. (Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters)
"Public transportation and deliveries of cargos require
professionalism," Vorobyov said.
The acting governor also announced an extraordinary inspection of the
region's almost 6,000 public buses, as well as "difficult crossroads,"
where traffic lights will be installed.
The truck driver's past violations included crossing into the oncoming
lane and driving a car in an improper technical condition.
But Viktor Pokhmelkin, head of the Movement of Russian Motorists,
said that seven violations of traffic rules don't necessarily mean
that the driver would be stripped of his license, and Armenian driving
licenses are valid in Russia.
Even a gross violation like crossing into the oncoming lane would lead
to disqualification from driving only if witnessed and protocoled by
a traffic policeman, Pokhmelkin said by telephone.
If the violation is recorded by a video camera and the driver is
notified by mail, however, he will only be fined a few thousand rubles,
the lawyer said.
And despite past violations, Pokhmelkin said, the truck driver was
not necessarily to blame for the crash, as the intersection where
Saturday's crash occurred is known for frequent collisions.
"It is possible that there is something wrong with the organization
of the traffic movement there," he said.
Popular blogger Rustem Adagamov wrote on his Facebook page Sunday
that the road from which the truck driver turned onto the main road
was winding and had no traffic signs on it, making it impossible for
the truck driver to see the bus in time. Adagamov published photos
of the road to prove his point.
A bus passenger who survived the crash, however, told Komsomolskaya
Pravda that she had seen the truck coming from far away.
While Saturday's crash has already resulted in calls for tighter
legislation, Viktor Travin, president of the Moscow-based Board for
Legal Defense, a firm that defends drivers, said that more should
be done to prevent violations from occurring in the first place and
that "the state must care about preventing violations, not about
punishment."
According to Travin, fines for traffic violations were raised on
average every six months in Russia in the past 20 years, though that
has not reduced the number of traffic violations.
"Instead, the fight against the violators has turned into a fight to
replenish the [state] budget," he said.
On Tuesday, City Hall and the Moscow region government will decide
whether to pay compensation of 1 million rubles ($31,000) to the
relatives of each of those who died in Saturday's crash, and 500,000
rubles to each of the injured, Vorobyov said Sunday.
The victims also have the right to apply to the SOGAZ company, where
the bus was insured, for compensation, SOGAZ spokesman Nikolai Galushin
told Interfax.
A law passed in January gives passengers the right to claim up to 2
million rubles ($62,000) in compensation from carriers.
In October, a collision of two cars at a Moscow intersection in which
two people were killed, including popular actress Marina Golub,
prompted Moscow's police chief to order traffic police to take
measures to prevent such an accident from happening again, including
a tightening of legislation.
The driver deemed responsible for October's crash had also repeatedly
been fined for traffic violations.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/18-killed-dozens-injured-in-bus-crash/483130.html