Car accidents continue to claim many lives in Baku
By Nigar Orujova
Heavy rainfall occurred on Tuesday night in the Azerbaijani capital Baku and the Absheron Peninsula -- which encompasses the city and its surrounding districts, the Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry reported on Wednesday.
The heavy rain, which was unexpected for the end of April, brought most of the precipitation not only in Baku and its suburbs but also Sumgayit, a city 30 km north of the capital.
A number of road accidents occurred in Baku because of the weather conditions.
Some 335,000 traffic rules violations were reported in the first quarter of 2013, including 46,000 speeding violations, 6,500 passage rules violations, and 2,100 instances of driving while intoxicated, the traffic police reported.
Overall, 92.6 percent of the road accidents were related to traffic rules violations. In 271 cases drivers' licenses were suspended.
646 road accidents killed 258 and injured 691 people over the three months of 2013, which is 118 more than in the same period of 2012.
221 of the road accidents were registered in Baku with 80 deaths and 211 injures reported, which also exceeds the figure for the same period of last year.
Some of the accidents were caused by running into pedestrians, with 86 people killed and 183 injured in 244 accidents. Only 34 of such accidents happened due to the pedestrians' fault.
The Main State Traffic Police Department is holding a traffic safety campaign on Azerbaijani roads on April 1-30, aiming to step up measures to prevent fatal road accidents and provide for safety on the roads of the country.
A number of projects to increase children's awareness of road traffic culture and road safety are implemented in Azerbaijan every year to prevent children and teenagers from getting involved in car accidents. However, the problem is still acute in the country and primarily in the capital city.
More crosswalks, underground and overland pedestrian crossings have been constructed in Baku to solve the problem. The creation of road infrastructure led to an increase in the number of vehicles. Whereas the number of vehicles in Azerbaijan slightly exceeded 200,000 in 1991, now the figure is 1.15 million. This also causes more accidents.
Last year the number of fatal road accidents in Azerbaijan increased 6 percent compared to 2011. Although the number of traffic accidents has been declining in Azerbaijan, more than 1,000 people died last year in such accidents.