ROADS AND INTERSECTIONS OF YEREVAN LACK SOME 3000 ROAD SIGNS
Mane Amirjanyan
/PanARMENIAN.Net/
15.02.2010 GMT+04:00
Are thieves interested in road signs in Armenia?
Lack of road signs and traffic signals at intersections, incorrect
road markings, appearing within a night and resulting in violations
of traffic regulations, have become common for the Yerevan drivers.
Photos of absurd road signs have become a subject of ridicule in many
blogs. However, the roads and intersections in Yerevan, according
to the Traffic Police of Armenia, lack of around 3000 road signs,
and out-of order traffic lights cause traffic jams and accidents.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "In 2009 we even exceeded the plan of the traffic
police, setting 2500 traffic signs, 7 traffic lights and implementing
1.3 million meters of road markings," Hakob Altunyan, chief engineer of
"Lusanshan" said. This year much more should be done: the 3500 road
signs and 17 traffic lights should be installed, including 139 LED
traffic lights for vehicles and 110 traffic lights for pedestrians,
as well as about 300 countdown timers for the traffic lights.
According to the head of Achilles public organization Eduard
Hovhannisyan, since 1987 there has been no complex work to settle
the traffic. "We have no planned traffic rules, and we are facing the
problems even in the small city center, not to mention the surburb,"
Eduard Hovhannisyan says.
"Since last year, we do not make difference in setting traffic lights
and road signs in the city center and suburbs, although there are
problems.
41 road signs have already been set in the districts of Yerevan in
2010. "Still, Traffic Police is in charge of establishing standards
for the quantity and location of road signs to be set," Hakob Altunyan,
chief engineer at Lusanshan NGO stated.
2 million meters of roads are scheduled for marking in 2010. But
even those turn into a subject of dispute between drivers and road
police officers, as in some cases ill considered placement of road
signs hamper proper functioning of road traffic, according to Eduard
Hovhannisyan.
On the other hand though, numerous examples of drivers fault in the
misplacement of road signs or disappearance of those, Hakob Altunyan
said. "Unfortunately, perpetrators are hard to be caught in the act,
thus continuing the chain of violations."
Thus, either no one or every one is at fault in this blame-shifting
game. Meanwhile, traffic accidents rate keeps growing. Even in January,
153 road accidents were registered, according to official statistics
provided by Armenian Police.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
