Opponents of the bill on the introduction of a ban on the importation of right-hand cars into Armenia went on protest

ArmInfo. Opponents of the bill to ban on the importation of right- hand cars to Armenia on December 22 went on protest. Participants of the march in Yerevan demand to withdraw the legislative initiative of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and IT. The protesters went to the Ministry of Transport.

As the coordinator of the right-hand Initiative Gevorg Achemyan stated in his conversation with journalists, the proposals will be submitted only after the authorities withdraw the draft decision. On the eve, the head of the Ministry of Transport Vahan Martirosyan expressed his readiness to meet with representatives of the "Right Hand Drive" initiative.

Talks about a possible ban on the import and exploitation of right-hand drive vehicles are not being discussed in Armenia for the first time. However, to this day there is no legal act regarding the suspension of the use of right-hand drive vehicles, the introduction of restrictions or requirements for owners of such vehicles. A new impetus to the initiative to ban, according to rumors, was given by major importers of cars, which in the summer 2017 "opened their eyes" to officials on the danger of these cars. It was by the results of these meetings that the Ministry of Transport started new discussions in this direction with the participation of all interested parties. As Minister of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies Vahan Martirosyan noted in the Armenian parliament, such cars are dangerous, since many traffic accidents are recorded with their participation (although no official statistics have been submitted so far).

Earlier, responding to the question of ArmInfo, the deputy chairman of the human rights organization Driver's friend, David Pedanyan, stated that the initiators of the program are likely to be large importers of vehicles. According to him, the initiative should also be considered in the context of the business project of those who, as a result of the ban, will deal with the technical side of the issue, namely, the conversion of cars from the right to the left wheel, because the price of the issue is $ 700-1000. Noting that at present there is no official statistics in Armenia about the accident with the participation of right-hand drive vehicles, the expert called cunning that the basis for this idea is the safety factor.