Over the last few weeks, yellow and black signs have begun appearing on Almaty's sidewalks. They warn drivers of a new weapon in the war on atrocious driving -- speed cameras. City authorities are finally getting to grips with Almaty's nightmare traffic problems by installing cameras at points all over the city.
Some 1,100 cameras are to be installed at traffic intersections along with a network of more than 100 control centers at a cost of 4.5 billion tenge ($30 million) in a bid to bring some order to the city's unruly drivers, Vecherny Almaty reports. The cameras will not only check for speeding violations but also collect data on illegal stopping and red light violations.
Chronic traffic problems are not just limited to Almaty. Kazakhstan's annual death toll on the roads remains high -- in the first nine months of 2010 there were 1,937 fatalities as a result of traffic accidents across the country. (By comparison, Western European populations suffer roughly half the number of traffic-related deaths per capita.)
Kazakhstan's traffic cops conducted a nationwide “Safe Road” campaign from October 18-25, including spot checks to catch motorists infringing on traffic rules. On the first day alone, nine drivers of public transportation in Almaty were caught behind the wheel while under the influence; seven on drugs and two drunk. As it is in many post-Soviet countries, drunk driving is a huge problem in Kazakhstan. And in the first nine months of this year a mind-boggling 47,000 motorists were picked up for this infraction.
One other measure that may help ease Almaty's traffic problems is the long-awaited opening of the city's subway system. Under construction for 22 years -- a possible world record -- without running a single train, the Metro is finally nearing completion. Almaty's mayor Akhmetzhan Yesimov went on a test run of the system last week.
Unfortunately, the city's death-defying commuters will have to wait until December 2011 before going underground. The Metro should provide a safer alternative to the mayhem on the city's streets, provided the staff remain sober.
Paul Bartlett is a journalist based in Almaty.
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