Reckless driving kills more people every year in Ukraine than Russia’s war in the Donbas.
But following a horrific incident in October, when a 20-year-old driver in Kharkiv, Olena Zaitseva killed six and injured five pedestrians in a high-speed crash, the Ukrainian government has issued stricter rules to improve road safety in cities and towns all over Ukraine, to come in effect starting Jan. 1, 2018.
The government plans to spend $75 million in 2018 to purchase security cameras to catch offending drivers in the act.
The authorities have already decreased speed limits within towns from 60 kilometers per hour to 50 kilometers per hour, banned parking on 67 streets in Kyiv, toughened the rules for learner drivers, and much more.
Some drivers aren’t happy, saying without the strict control and alternative places to park, nobody will stick to the rules and there will be even more disorder on Ukrainian roads. Experts disagree, however.
“Every single new initiative is met with criticism in Ukraine,” Olesia Kholopik, a lawyer with the Center of Democracy and Rule of Law in Kyiv, who is leading a road safety campaign, told the Kyiv Post on Nov. 29.
“But I think we should give the new rules a chance and see how they go,” she said.
Ukraine’s road-safety statistics are horrific: Over the first nine months of 2017, more than 2,317 people were killed and 25,082 injured in car accidents in Ukraine, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in October.
In 2016, more than 3,000 people were killed on the roads, and more than 36,000 injured. Most of the deaths and injuries were due to speeding.
For comparison, Russia’s war in the Donbas has taken more than 10,200 lives since 2014.
Speed limits
In January 2018 the new 50 kilometers per hour speed limit in built-up areas will come into force. Ukraine’s Interior Ministry in November said it was reducing the limit from its former level of 60-70 kilometers per hour.
Some drivers already don’t like it.
“Very bad news. I tried to drive according to the new rules a couple of days ago, and I felt like I was trudging behind Lanoses (cheap Ukrainian-made cars), and lost an extra 15 minutes on my way home,” Taras Kozub, a driver from Kyiv, told the Kyiv Post on Nov. 29.
But Alik Sardarian, another driver from Kyiv, is positive about the speed limit reduction.
“If the authorities indeed enforce this – fine people, and evacuate carelessly parked cars – that would be great. I don’t see the point of driving faster (than 50 kilometers per hour) in the town anyway,” Sardarian told the Kyiv Post.
“Finally, I won’t be the only person driving at 60 kilometers per hour down Lesi Ukrainki Boulevard in Kyiv to the sound of other drivers swearing,” Sardarian added.
The new rules would also bring Ukraine closer into line with Europe: most EU countries also have a speed limit of 50 kilometers in towns and cities, Kholopik said.
“Furthermore, it is the best speed for a driver to have full awareness of the situation on the road around him. He has time to react if any unexpected pedestrian or another car suddenly gets in the way,” the expert added.
And any unfortunate pedestrian who is hit by a car moving at 50 kilometers per hour has a better chance of survival.
“The chance of survival decreases with every extra five kilometers (of speed),” Kholopik said.
Under the old rules, drivers in Ukraine could escape being fined by police if they violated the speed limit by no more than 20 kilometers per hour. But with the new speed limits, the range of allowed violation has been reduced from 20 to 10 kilometers per hour – meaning that anyone traveling at more than 60 kilometers per hour in the built-up areas can be fined for speeding.
New drivers
In November, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a resolution on stricter rules for new drivers. From now on, a driver’s first license will be valid for only two years. After that the new driver can get a permanent one – but only if he or she has committed fewer than three traffic violations over the two-year probation term.
If they have more than three violations, drivers will have to take their driving exam again to get a permanent driving license.
A permanent driving license in Ukraine is valid for 30 years. However, the Interior Ministry says that by the end of 2017 it will submit amendments to driving legislation that will limit that term to 15 years.
New drivers will also have to observe lower speed limits – they will not be allowed to drive faster than 70 kilometers per hour.
Parking ban
Kyiv city authorities have imposed stricter rules not only on driving but also parking, which has long been a headache for everyone in the Ukrainian capital.
Kyiv has at least 3 million citizens and only 39,000 official parking places in 890 locations. As a result, drivers often park chaotically, blocking entire streets and sidewalks, destroying lawns, and causing inconvenience to pedestrians.
To improve the parking situation, Kyiv City Council on Nov. 28 banned parking on 67 streets in Kyiv, where parking significantly disrupts traffic.
The parking ban mostly extends to streets, boulevards, and squares in the city center, as well as high-speed highways. The parking ban will give a legal basis to evacuate the cars, according to the city council’s press service.
Some drivers are upset at this change too.
“First, create alternative parking spaces and then ban parking on these streets,” driver Olga Shatalova said. “Drivers often face discrimination.”
Andrii Varchak, a driver from Kyiv, told the Kyiv Post on Nov. 29 that he had already checked the list of streets with parking bans, and discovered that parking had already been banned on some of them for a long time, just that drivers often ignored the rules.
But Ivan Shpiloviy, the deputy director of the Infrastructure Department of Kyiv Council, promised stricter enforcement of parking rules.
“Kyiv Roads Service will put up special road signs and marks on these streets. And the police, with the council’s decision in their hands, will be more confident about punishing careless drivers,” Shpiloviy said in a message published on Kyiv Council’s official website on Nov. 28.
A map shows the streets in the city center Kyiv City Council banned for parking on Nov.28. (Kyiv Post) (Google Maps)
List of streets in Kyiv where parking is now banned:
Mykhaylivska Street,
Lvivska Square,
Sichovykh Striltsiv Street,
Melnikova Street (section from Hlybochitska Street to Dorogozhitska Street),
Oleny Teligy Street,
Stepana Bandery Avenue,
Henerala Vatutina Avenue,
Brovarskiy Avenue,
Kharkivske Highway,
Hnata Khotkevycha Street,
Moskovska Street,
Henerala Almazova Street,
Mykhaila Hrushevskoho Street,
Khreshchatyk Street,
Baseyna Street,
Tarasa Shevchenka Street,
Saksahanskoho Street (section from Pankivska Street to Peremohy Square),
Zhylyanska Street (section from Pestelya Street to Illi Erenburga Street),
Antonovycha Street (section from Zagorodnya Street to Druzhby Narodiv Boulevard),
Velyka Vaselkivska Street (sections from Druzhby Narodiv Boulevard to Ivana Kudri Street, and from Khreshchatyk Street to Lva Tovstoho Square),
Lobanovskoho Avenue,
Chokolivskyi Boulevard,
Vadyma Hetmana Street,
Oleksandra Dovzhenka Street,
Degtyarivska Street (section from Peremohy Avenue to Ivana Shevtsova Street),
Sikorskoho Street,
Shcherbakivskoho Street,
Akademika Palladina Avenue,
Kiltseva Road,
Pushkinska Street (section from Bohdana Khmenytskoho Street to Prorizna Street),
Verhniy Val Street (section from Kozhumyatska Street to Mezhyhirska Street),
Nyzhniy Val Street (section from Mezhyhirska Street to Kozhumyatska Street),
Holosiyivskiy Avenue,
Vokzalna Street,
Leontovycha Street,
Hertsena Street,
Ovrutska Street (section from Hertsena Street to Podilskiy Uzviz),
Sevastopolska Square,
Vyshhorodska Street,
Korolenkivska Street,
Darnytska Square
Hlybochitska Street,
Stetsenka Street (section from Akademika Palladina to Akademika Tupoleva Street),
Bahhoutivska Street (section from Pugachova Street to Ovrutska Street)
Pugachova Street,
Naberezhne Highway,
Naddnipryanske Highway,
Zadniprovskogo Street,
Petra Zaporozhtsia Street,
Luteranska Street,
Shovkovychna Street.
