The United States ambassador to Uzbekistan Jonathan Henick shared with Gazeta.uz his opinion on what the government should do to reduce the high number of traffic accidents, including fatal ones, in the country.
— We are seeing numerous road traffic accidents, including fatal ones involving children. What should the government do to improve this?
— Thank you for this question, because this is the issue I am very concerned about here in Uzbekistan.
The first and most important thing is for people to wear their seatbelts.
We manufacture automobiles with seatbelts for a reason. And there are decades of experience and evidence that show wearing seatbelts saves people’s lives.
Anybody that thinks they don’t need a seatbelt in a car because they are a good driver is just ignorant. You can be the best driver in the world, but that doesn’t protect you from another driver.
Children should be in child seats. Infants should be in infant seats. These save lives.
I am sure that Uzbeks love their children as much as Americans love their children. If you love your children, put them in the safe car seat.
Of course, there are other things that can be done to improve road safety — improving roads, improving pedestrian crossings, but the most important thing is just to wear a seat belt.
And also, maybe, I can encourage drivers to be respectful of pedestrians.
— Is it important to strengthen the fines and punishment or improve the infrastructure?
— I think we need to do everything. There needs to be stronger laws, probably higher fines, stricter implementation of those laws, but it also requires changing people’s attitudes.
Forty years ago, maybe, in the United States seatbelt usage was about the same as it is here today. And Americans thought they didn’t need to wear seatbelts in cars.
We had seatbelt laws, we had fines, and these were implemented. I think seatbelt usage now is 80 to 90 percent. And evidence shows this saved tens of thousands of lives, as well as prevented many more people from injuries.
— Most people think driving a car or being in a car in Tashkent is dangerous. What is your personal opinion of this?
— Honestly, driving is the most dangerous thing we do every day anywhere in the world. We worry about earthquakes, we worry about hurricanes, we worry about being struck by lightning — these things are very-very rare occurrences, but traffic accidents are very-very common.
But there are two things you can do to extend your life — stop smoking and wear a seatbelt.
A crossroads in Tashkent. Photo by Yevgeny Sorochin / Gazeta.uz.
Seatbelts still not mandatory in Uzbekistan for passengers
This may be surprising but seatbelt use in Uzbekistan is only mandatory for the driver.
In the spring of 2022, the government introduced changes in the Road traffic rules requiring front seat passengers to fasten seatbelts before the car starts driving.
More than two years later, however, the parliament still has not approved fines for not implementing this rule, which means passengers not wearing seatbelts cannot be fined.
Wearing seatbelts may be common in the capital, Tashkent, but in most regions, even on intercity roads, drivers prefer not to wear a seatbelt. Drivers can often discourage passengers from fastening the seatbelt saying it is unnecessary.
Fastening seatbelts on back seats and infant and child seats or boosters bears a recommendatory character.
The fine for the drivers not wearing seatbelts is just 170,000 soums, or less than $14. The driver can pay only half of this sum if the payment is made within 15 days from the registration of the violation, or 70% within 30 days.
The Legislative (lower) chamber of the Oliy Majlis passed the law on introducing the system of penalty points for drivers in November 2023. However, the Senate in August rejected the law after a wide public disagreement with introduction in the law of the liability for filming the law-enforcement officers “with the purpose to discredit” them.
In April 2022, former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan Tim Torlot said driving in Tashkent was “quite scary”. “In no other country have I seen U-turns in the middle of two-way streets,” he said. The diplomat said the situation could be improved with the correct street design, speed control and changing the driving education.
In August 2021, Brice Roquefeuil, chargé d’affaires at the embassy of France in Uzbekistan, said: “I sit in front of the wheel I am scared because there are no rules at all.”
By Mirolim Isajonov, edited by Azamat Atadjanov
