Thursday, January 18 2018 15:05

ArmInfo. Armenia will ban import of right-hand drive vehicles from April 1, 2018. As early as October 1, the ban will operate within the requirements of the technical regulations of the Customs Union. On January 18, the Armenian government approved the bill "On a temporary ban on the import of vehicles with right-hand steering".

According to the Minister of Transport, Communications and IT Vahan Martirosyan, according to the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic of 1968 and the Law of the Republic of Armenia "On Road Safety", a right-hand traffic of vehicles has been installed on the roads of Armenia. Within the framework of this principle, traffic rules are established for vehicles with left-hand steering. Traffic signs, traffic lights are also installed taking into account the perception of drivers of vehicles with left-hand drive. "Consequently, the operation of right-hand drive vehicles poses a threat to road traffic, creates the risks of accidents," the minister said, again referring to the statistics of accidents involving right-hand drive cars: 28% more often they got into an accident, and the number of injured owners of such cars is greater on 39%.

As Martirosyan noted, the current draft law, for the full solution of the problem, proposes to temporarily prohibit the import of vehicles with right-hand drive from RA to the decision of the Eurasian Economic Commission on December 9, 2011 from April 1 to October 1, 2018 "On the adoption of the technical regulations of the Customs Union" On the safety of wheeled vehicles "No. 877 and additions to the list of countries that prohibit the use of vehicles with a right-sided location At the same time, the minister stressed that this restriction will not affect the current car owners - they can exploit, register, register, re-register their cars. "At present, there is no official statistics in Armenia regarding an accident involving right-hand drive vehicles. At least until mid-2017, as ArmInfo noted in the RA Road Police, such statistics were not carried out, but experts called cunning that the safety factor is indicated as a justification for this idea.