“Change tires and don’t be nervous”

The capital's chief traffic inspector urges drivers not to use studded tires

While weather forecasters are recording above-zero temperature records in early December, the capital's utility workers and road enforcers are anticipating precipitation and the first serious cold snap. As the head of the Moscow traffic police department, Sergei Kazantsev, told reporters yesterday, already this weekend the temperature in the capital will drop to minus, and then we can expect the first winter snow. And this, according to him, is fraught with a serious increase in road traffic accidents (RTA). Mr. Kazantsev recalled that traffic inspectors observed the first snowfall and the associated “tinsmith’s day” on Moscow roads back in early November. Then, according to the capital’s traffic police, only the number of minor accidents on the roads increased from 1.5 thousand to 2.5 thousand per day.

Therefore, yesterday, representatives of the Department of Housing and Public Utilities and Public Improvement of Moscow, as well as the capital’s transport workers and traffic inspectors urged drivers to prepare: “Change tires, anti-freeze fluid and do not be nervous.” True, the traffic police believe that residents of the capital can easily get by with soft tires without studs in winter. Traffic inspectors began to campaign for wheels, which, according to the mayor of the capital Yuri Luzhkov, spoil the road surface, by their own example. According to Mr. Kazantsev, special traffic police escort battalions have already switched to studless winter tires, which do not spoil the roads and provide good grip. And, according to his admission, the personal official car of the city’s chief traffic cop also has simple tires. “In Moscow there are no skids, like in the Kuril Islands and Yakutia, and the grip on wet asphalt is better,” Mr. Kazantsev called on Muscovites to give up studs.

But along with the wheels, traffic inspectors urge drivers to change their psychological attitudes. According to traffic police statistics, the main causes of accidents are drivers’ failure to comply with the driving order, speed limit, distance and violation of traffic light requirements. And during the New Year holidays, according to Sergei Kazantsev, nervousness on the roads will only increase. “The psychology of people is to put off all purchases until the last day. In addition, many will go to congratulate relatives, set the festive table, and the migration of cars on the roads will increase,” noted the capital’s chief traffic inspector. And if it is difficult for a driver to control himself in traffic jams, the traffic police believe, “it is better not to leave at all, but to use public transport.” “In public transport, you are transported by highly qualified drivers who undergo medical and technical examinations before departures,” the head of the Department of Transport and Communications, Vasily Kichedzhi, supported the traffic inspector.

However, utility companies still assure that they have prepared for snowfalls and ice, which in winter cause traffic jams in Moscow. And crushed stone, and reagents, and equipment, including snow melters, according to the deputy head of the department of housing and communal services and city improvement Sergei Titov, are in abundance. And a specially created headquarters monitors weather conditions. Utility workers complained only about illegally parked cars, which interfere with the quality cleaning of the streets.

However, the services of snow removal equipment may not be needed. As follows from the speech of another participant in the press conference, director of the Roshydromet atmospheric technology agency Viktor Korneev, the intentions of the capital’s authorities to prevent heavy snowfalls by clearing clouds are quite feasible. According to Mr. Korneev, the disposal of one cubic meter of snow today costs about twice as much as the preventive measures taken by meteorologists. True, so far, according to him, the Moscow government treats this only as an experiment, which in any case will not begin until the new year.

Yulia KHOMCHENKO