The Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Internal Affairs intend to prohibit the re -equipment of cargo "Gazelle" into passenger

The Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, intends to prohibit the converting of cargo Gazeli into passenger, said the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Igor Levitin to reporters during a trip to Nizhny Novgorod.

According to him, cars converted from cargo to passenger "pose the greatest threat to passengers." “I drove into the converted Gazelle - the sensations are not pleasant,” the minister remarked.

According to him, the issue of prohibition of re -equipment "cannot be solved immediately." "We will work in this direction together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation," the head of the Ministry of Transport said.

Over the past two years, the number of accidents involving route Gazelles has increased sharply. The last serious accident occurred on March 2 in Tula , where the Gazelle collided with the mugs: 9 people died on the spot, another woman died later in the hospital, several people were injured. The cause of the accident, like most accidents involving minibuses of the Gorky Automobile Plant, was the inappropriate technical condition of the minibus.

The minister noted that such measures must be taken "to save the factory brand, because the quality of passenger cars that the plant itself produces, satisfies all safety requirements." At the same time, Levitin emphasized that the Gorky Automobile Plant should work on the quality of the model. In particular, we are talking about improving the fastening of seats, an increase by 20 mm of the ceiling height and creating the possibility of quick evacuation from the car in case of an accident.

Levitin did not exclude that in case of ban on illegal re -equipment of Gazelles, a decrease in sales of this car may occur. According to him, "the purchase and re -equipment of trucks costs entrepreneurs cheaper than the purchase of a specially equipped minibus."

The minister also proposed limiting the use of Gazelle in intercity and inter -district transportation inside the region. In his opinion, these cars should not carry out transportation at distances of more than 50 km. “This is due to the fact that the Gazelle does not have a luggage compartment,” he explained.

At the same time, the chief designer of the gas Vladimir Chetverikov noted that the equipment of the passenger Gazelle with the luggage department, as well as to fulfill the requirements for increasing the height of the ceiling, may take about 1.5 years. He also said that such an advanced Gazelle will cost 1.5-2 thousand dollars more. According to Chetverikov, these proposals "will lead to an increase in comfort, but not security", as well as to the fact that the car will become less in demand on the market.