Instituto de Estudios Políticos y Derecho Público "Dr. Humberto J. La Roche"
de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas de la Universidad del Zulia
Maracaibo, Venezuela
Esta publicación cientíca en formato digital es continuidad de la revista impresa
ISSN-Versión Impresa 0798-1406 / ISSN-Versión on line 2542-3185Depósito legal pp
197402ZU34
ppi 201502ZU4645
Vol.39 N° 70
2021
Recibido el 12/07/2021 Aceptado el 12/09/2021
ISSN 0798- 1406 ~ De pó si to le gal pp 198502ZU132
Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas
La re vis ta Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas, es una pu bli ca ción aus pi cia da por el Ins ti tu to
de Es tu dios Po lí ti cos y De re cho Pú bli co “Dr. Hum ber to J. La Ro che” (IEPDP) de la Fa-
cul tad de Cien cias Ju rí di cas y Po lí ti cas de la Uni ver si dad del Zu lia.
En tre sus ob je ti vos fi gu ran: con tri buir con el pro gre so cien tí fi co de las Cien cias
Hu ma nas y So cia les, a tra vés de la di vul ga ción de los re sul ta dos lo gra dos por sus in ves-
ti ga do res; es ti mu lar la in ves ti ga ción en es tas áreas del sa ber; y pro pi ciar la pre sen ta-
ción, dis cu sión y con fron ta ción de las ideas y avan ces cien tí fi cos con com pro mi so so cial.
Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas apa re ce dos ve ces al año y pu bli ca tra ba jos ori gi na les con
avan ces o re sul ta dos de in ves ti ga ción en las áreas de Cien cia Po lí ti ca y De re cho Pú bli-
co, los cua les son so me ti dos a la con si de ra ción de ár bi tros ca li fi ca dos.
ESTA PU BLI CA CIÓN APA RE CE RE SE ÑA DA, EN TRE OTROS ÍN DI CES, EN
:
Re vicyhLUZ, In ter na tio nal Po li ti cal Scien ce Abs tracts, Re vis ta In ter ame ri ca na de
Bi blio gra fía, en el Cen tro La ti no ame ri ca no para el De sa rrol lo (CLAD), en Bi blio-
gra fía So cio Eco nó mi ca de Ve ne zue la de RE DIN SE, In ter na tio nal Bi blio graphy of
Po li ti cal Scien ce, Re vencyt, His pa nic Ame ri can Pe rio di cals In dex/HAPI), Ul ri ch’s
Pe rio di cals Di rec tory, EBS CO. Se en cuen tra acre di ta da al Re gis tro de Pu bli ca cio-
nes Cien tí fi cas y Tec no ló gi cas Ve ne zo la nas del FO NA CIT, La tin dex.
Di rec to ra
L
OIRALITH
M. C
HIRINOS
P
ORTILLO
Co mi té Edi tor
Eduviges Morales Villalobos
Fabiola Tavares Duarte
Ma ría Eu ge nia Soto Hernández
Nila Leal González
Carmen Pérez Baralt
Co mi té Ase sor
Pedro Bracho Grand
J. M. Del ga do Ocan do
José Ce rra da
Ri car do Com bel las
An gel Lom bar di
Die ter Nohlen
Al fre do Ra mos Ji mé nez
Go ran Ther born
Frie drich Welsch
Asis ten tes Ad mi nis tra ti vos
Joan López Urdaneta y Nil da Ma rín
Re vis ta Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas. Av. Gua ji ra. Uni ver si dad del Zu lia. Nú cleo Hu ma nís ti co. Fa-
cul tad de Cien cias Ju rí di cas y Po lí ti cas. Ins ti tu to de Es tu dios Po lí ti cos y De re cho Pú bli co
“Dr. Hum ber to J. La Ro che”. Ma ra cai bo, Ve ne zue la. E- mail: cues tio nes po li ti cas@gmail.
com ~ loi chi ri nos por til lo@gmail.com. Te le fax: 58- 0261- 4127018.
Vol. 39, Nº 70 (2021), 165-179
IEPDP-Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas - LUZ
World experience of legal regulation of road safety
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.3970.10
Igor Pastukh *
Iryna Bukhtiiarova **
Nataliia Kapitonova ***
Bohdan Ahanin ****
Abstract
The article analyzes the characteristics of the legal regulation
of road safety in dierent countries of the world. In addition,
current issues in the eld of road safety are revealed, which can
be conditionally divided into several groups. Such issues include
legal regulation; the structural organization of legal regulation:
personnel, material, technical and nancial support. The key
directions of the state policy of dierent countries of the world
in the eld of ensuring road safety are identied, as well as new
principles for the formation of criteria to guarantee road safety. It
analyses the positive experience of some countries in the eld of road safety.
In particular, the experience of China, Japan, and some European countries
in the eld of ensuring road safety could be considered by other countries
at the same time as the legal regulation of road safety. It is concluded that,
to improve the eciency of the legal regulation of road safety, a systematic
approach is required, including the development of objective indicators,
the use of systematic and evidence-based measures aimed at preventing
road accidents and reducing the severity of their consequences.
Keywords: road safety; motorized transport; accidents; trac accidents;
trac rules.
* Head of the Department of Public management and Administration, National Academy of Internal
Aairs, PhD in Law, Associate Professor, Kyiv, Ukraine, ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-
5889-7055. Email: igord76@gmail.com
** Associate Professor of the Department of Public management and Administration, National Academy
of Internal Aairs, PhD in Law, Kyiv, Ukraine, ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6348-9577.
Email: irinabuhtiarova@ukr.net
*** Lecturer at the Department of Police Law National Academy of Internal Aairs, PhD in Law, Associate
Professor, Kyiv, Ukraine, ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7947-4940. Email: n_kapitoha@
gmail.com
**** Company commander motorcade division of patrol police Deparment, National Police of Ukraine, Kyiv,
Ukraine, ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8654-3940. Email: aganin_bogdan@gmail.com
166
Igor Pastukh, Iryna Bukhtiiarova, Nataliia Kapitonova y Bohdan Ahanin
World experience of legal regulation of road safety
Experiencia mundial en regulación legal de la
seguridad vial
Resumen
El artículo analiza las características de la regulación legal de la seguridad
vial en diferentes países del mundo. Además, se revelan temas de actualidad
en el campo de la seguridad vial, que pueden dividirse condicionalmente
en varios grupos. Tales temas incluyen la regulación legal; la organización
estructural de la regulación legal: personal, material, soporte técnico y
nanciero. Se identican las direcciones clave de la política de estado de
diferentes países del mundo en el campo de garantizar la seguridad vial,
así como nuevos principios para la formación de criterios para garantizar
la seguridad vial. Se analiza la experiencia positiva de algunos países en el
ámbito de la seguridad vial. En particular, la experiencia de China, Japón y
algunos países europeos en el campo de garantizar la seguridad vial podría
ser tomada en cuenta por otros países al mismo tiempo que la regulación
legal de la seguridad vial. Se concluye que, para mejorar la eciencia de la
regulación legal de la seguridad vial, se requiere un enfoque sistemático,
que incluya el desarrollo de indicadores objetivo, el uso de medidas
sistemáticas y basadas en evidencia dirigidas a prevenir accidentes viales y
reducir la severidad de sus consecuencias.
Palabras clave: seguridad vial; transporte motorizado; siniestralidad;
accidentes de tráco; normas de tráco.
Introduction
The transport sector is a strategic component of the infrastructure that
should ensure the interests of individuals. The leading place in it is occupied
by motor transport. Without it, modern society cannot exist. At the same
time, along with the positive consequences, motorization has created a
number of issues. First of all, it is a high level of mortality and injuries due
to trac accidents.
The relevance of ensuring the safety of road users is indisputable,
and causes the alarm of the entire world community. This circumstance
makes this direction one of the priorities in the social and economic policy
of the ONN. The UN General Assembly adopted the “Global Plan for the
Implementation of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020” (World
Health Organization, 2011), which was considered within the framework
of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the year. The Global
Plan recognizes the inevitability of the consolidation of the forces of the
world community in overcoming the problems of ensuring the safety of
road users. As a tool to achieve this goal, the World Health Organization
167
CUESTIONES POLÍTICAS
Vol. 39 Nº 70 (2021): 165-179
(WHO) and the UN Regional Commissions are tasked with coordinating
the follow-up to the Global Plan using a phased series of reports on the state
of global road safety. The rst report was presented in 2009 in anticipation
of the adoption of this UN resolution, the second in 2013, the third in 2015,
and the fourth in 2018.
The latest report from the World Health Organization (WHO),
published in December 2018, notes that road trac deaths continue to
rise, with 1.35 million deaths per year. The 2018 WHO Global Road Safety
Report highlights that road trac injuries are currently the leading cause
of death in children aged 5 and under and young people under 30. This
report encourages national governments to signicantly intensify their
eorts to implement measures to prevent car accidents. Strong government
action, trac enforcement, smart road construction, and powerful public
awareness campaigns can save millions of lives in the next decades around
the world.
By the beginning of the XXI century, most of the developed countries
of the world have accumulated a fairly large and diverse experience in the
eld of road safety. There is no doubt that the socio-political, economic,
legal characteristics of each state, together with historical and cultural
traditions, determine the variety of principles for the formation, denition
of competence and functioning of state road safety systems. Their analysis
allows us to identify some common features and determine stable trends in
this activity.
1. Historical aspects of formation and development of legal
regulation of road safety
Tracing the evolutionary path of development of the world states, it can
be noted that with the development of urbanization, it became necessary to
inuence the authorities on road trac. Attempts were made to alleviate the
position of pedestrians to some extent by protecting them from the eects
of horse-drawn vehicles. In Rome there was a ban on the entry of carts and
carriages during the daytime. The use of chariots was the exclusive privilege
of the upper classes.
In the Middle Ages, there were practically no carriages, and the rules of
behavior on the road were determined, rst of all, by the social rank of the
traveler. In particular, a knight could trample a peasant, but everyone was
obliged to yield to the passage of the bishop or lord of the sovereign.
The rapid development of trade, manufacturing, money circulation
caused the rapid growth of cities of a dierent type. The population grew
rapidly, and new ties arose between regions. The intensity of freight and
168
Igor Pastukh, Iryna Bukhtiiarova, Nataliia Kapitonova y Bohdan Ahanin
World experience of legal regulation of road safety
passenger trac on the roads grew. At the same time, there were also
problems of road trac and its safety. In each country, they tried to solve
them in their own way. However, the general tendencies were considered
even then.
Along with the rules governing road trac, responsibility for their
violations was introduced everywhere. Thus, in 1687, in North America
after an accident with a child crushed by a horseman, a ne was imposed for
excessively fast driving. In 1767, in England, a law was renewed prohibiting
the parking of carriages on the streets.
In 1822, the British authorities have already introduced the real rules on
the order of movement. They implemented rules to keep to a certain side,
to not go too fast, to not come close to the front carriage, to not block the
road for others, etc.
The creation of an internal combustion engine in the middle of the
19th century paved the way for the development of a new industry - the
automotive industry, which has been leading its history since 1887.
The rst laws associated with the emergence of the car, set the maximum
speed of the car: on state and highways - 6 km / h; in a village - 3 km / h. It
was forbidden to give sound signals at crowded intersections. In Germany,
at the beginning of the century, there was a law according to which cars
could only be driven on certain days and only along the route permitted by
the police (Chamlin and Sanders, 2017).
In 1910, there were 20 million cars in the world. Having become one
of the main types of mechanical means of transportation, the car has had
a strong impact on the development of road infrastructure. It caused not
only widespread road construction in all European countries and the
USA, but also changed the type of road surface itself. The construction of
highways of a new type has been especially intensive since the 1930s in
Germany and the USA. The need to ensure road safety was evident in the
middle of the 19th century. In the 1860s, street trac controllers appeared
in London, manually controlling light, gas signals. The rst installation of
modern trac lights, originally two-section, took place in England in 1926
(Mayorov and Andreeva, 2017).
Moreover, in England and Germany, a certain order was immediately
established: the red signal was placed at the top, the green one at the
bottom. In the cities of the USSR and the USA, the location of red and green
lights remained arbitrary (Agureeva, 2006).
The rst trac lights were made in the form of cups, like a turtle’s shell,
which had glass slots. In 1908, the rst four international road signs were
approved by the rst international congress and the International Tourism
Conference held in Paris. They designated “turn”, “bumps”, “railway
169
CUESTIONES POLÍTICAS
Vol. 39 Nº 70 (2021): 165-179
crossing” and “crossroads”. The results of the long work to create a kind of
trac code, binding on all countries, were summed up in 1968 at the United
Nations Conference on Road Trac, held in Vienna. There were adopted
two fundamental documents - the Convention on Road Trac and the
Convention on Road Signs and Signals. The adopted documents formed the
basis for the regulation of international road trac and the establishment
of uniformity of trac rules, basic rules and signal signs.
The rst victims of road accidents were ocially registered in England
in 1896, when two people died as a result of car accidents. Across the ocean,
the tragic countdown of deaths under the wheels of cars began in 1899.
Subsequently, the number of victims of the car multiplied with such a
terrifying speed that it assumed the dimensions and nature of a natural
disaster. A similar situation developed for many reasons: low quality roads,
imperfect trac management, non-observance of trac rules by drivers
and pedestrians.
2. Current issues of legal regulation in the eld of road safety
The issues of legal regulation in the eld of road safety are divided into
three main groups (Bulavkin, 2016):
1) regulatory legal regulation.
2) the structural organization of legal regulation.
3) personnel, material, technical and nancial support.
Most governments have taken vigorous steps to develop and improve
the legal framework governing the main groups of public relations in the
eld of road trac. At present, the entire set of such acts is a certain system,
which consists of international legal acts that apply to all countries of the
world community, to a separate continent (for example, Europe, unions
of states (EU), national legislation). It should be noted that the system
of normative legal regulation in the considered area of public relations in
European countries is built and developed on certain principles of state
regulation, key directions of state policy, criteria for ensuring road safety
and the main trends in the state of road safety.
It is important to emphasize that during the development and
implementation of legal norms, their social orientation is traced. This
position is quite understandable and is due to the deep connection of
public administration in the eld of road trac with social processes and
phenomena occurring in the state, where the main goal is to implement
measures aimed at creating conditions that ensure a dignied life and free
human development (Hysing, 2021).
170
Igor Pastukh, Iryna Bukhtiiarova, Nataliia Kapitonova y Bohdan Ahanin
World experience of legal regulation of road safety
Therefore, the leitmotif of the legal regulation of the relevant activities is
to consolidate as the main principle the leading role of the state in ensuring
road safety and its responsibility for the nal results. The key directions of
the state policy in the eld of road safety are recognized by experts from
many countries:
a) risk reduction in road trac: applying new approaches to land use
issues; stimulating the transition from high-risk modes of transport
to safer vehicles, for example, giving priority to the movement of
vehicles carrying more passengers; introduction of a phased system
for issuing driving licenses.
b) creating a safer road environment: classifying roads and setting speed
limits according to their function; separation, if possible, motorized
and non-motorized movement; implementation of safety audit in the
process of design and construction of roads; equipment of roads with
means of protection in case of collision; reconstruction of the most
dangerous sections of the road network.
c) transition to more advanced and safer vehicles: increasing the
visibility of vehicles on the road; improvement of vehicle design
(installation of so-called pedestrian-friendly front bumpers on all
vehicles, ensuring the protection of the driver and passengers with
restraints and inatable devices); stimulation of the operation
of “intelligent” vehicles, equipping them with systems of anti-
alcohol blocking, speed adaptation, stabilization of braking, alarm
reminiscent of seat belts, etc.
d) ensuring compliance with trac rules: improving supervision over
compliance with the established speed, the use of seat belts and
protective helmets, the regime of work and rest of drivers; active
control of the sobriety of vehicle drivers; adoption of relevant
legislative and other normative acts; propaganda in the media.
e) improving the system of providing medical assistance to victims of
road accidents: improving the procedure for providing emergency
care; improving the organization of trauma treatment in hospitals;
provision of rehabilitation of victims (Mayorov and Gorovenko,
2018).
Experts from WHO and the World Bank note that in recent years there
has been a major shift in understanding the issue of road safety, new
principles for the formation of criteria for ensuring road safety have been
dened and are becoming more widespread:
1. Road trac accidents cannot be completely prevented, but road
trac injuries can be predicted and reduced.
171
CUESTIONES POLÍTICAS
Vol. 39 Nº 70 (2021): 165-179
2. Reliable data and a scientic approach are essential to enable rational
analysis and plan eective remedial actions.
3. Road trac injuries are such an important issue that many sectors,
including health, must fully share responsibilities and participate in
advocating for the necessary action to prevent road trac injuries.
4. All parties involved in the operation of the transport system must
consistently build in and ensure safety elements in order to avoid
common mistakes, better take into account the vulnerability of
the human body and understand the key importance of speed
management.
5. Road trac injuries are a social equity issue, so equal protection of
all road users should be sought to avoid unfairly shifting the burden
of injury and death onto poorer and more vulnerable users, such as
pedestrians and children.
Even in high-income countries, children from low-income families are
ve times more likely to be injured than those from wealthy families.
6. The transfer of knowledge and best practices is benecial if local
issues, conditions, trac patterns and local expertise are taken into
account.
7. Action at the local, regional and national levels helps to ensure an
eective and rapid response to road trac injuries (World Health
Organization, 2011).
At the same time, the main event of recent times in the road safety policy,
according to foreign experts, was a departure from the previous emphasis
on the fact that road trac safety issues are more likely to be blamed on
the victims of road accidents than on various structural elements and the
functioning of a highly demanding modern transport system.
The Road Safety Committee of the International Association of Police
Chiefs has formulated 10 major trends in road trac in the 21st century
(Simonson, 2021):
• increase in the congestion of highways and the number of congestions
on them.
• the emergence of “smart” vehicles and “smart” highways.
• reducing the speed of movement (cars and roadside posts will
be equipped with electronic devices capable of controlling and
interrupting the operation of ignition and fuel supply systems of
vehicles, forcing the driver not to exceed the set speed).
172
Igor Pastukh, Iryna Bukhtiiarova, Nataliia Kapitonova y Bohdan Ahanin
World experience of legal regulation of road safety
• changes in the size and weight of vehicles (a decrease in the world’s
mineral reserves will contribute to an increase in the number of
light and fuel-ecient vehicles, while trucks will become longer and
more carrying capacity, which will make cars more vulnerable in
collisions with trucks and will cause an increase in the number of
deaths in such accidents);
• increasing aggressiveness on the road.
• an increase in the number of accidents caused by elderly drivers,
whose share in the structure of the population will increase.
• wider use of devices for automatic detection and xation of trac
violations.
• the use of the latest technical means when working at the scene of
an accident.
• reducing the time for stopping and checking the driver and vehicles.
• preservation of the important role of the trac police in the ght
against crime (criminals will continue to come to and from the crime
scene in cars, illegally transport drugs, weapons, stolen property in
them. Therefore, the active work of the trac police will remain
an equally important means of suppressing criminal activities and
crime detection).
3. Good practices in the eld of legal regulation of road safety
In countries where progress has been made in road safety, it is largely
attributable to improved laws regarding key risk factors such as speeding,
drunk driving and not wearing seat belts, motorcycle helmets and child
restraints; enhancing the security of infrastructure, for example by
building sidewalks and paths for cyclists and motorcyclists improving
vehicle standards, for example, through the mandatory requirement of
an electronic safety system and anti-lock braking system; and improved
medical care after accidents.
Despite the increase in the total number of deaths, mortality rates
remain stable. This suggests that the measures taken in 48 countries of the
world with middle and high income, contribute to a signicant mitigation
of the situation and reduce deaths from road accidents.
However, no low-income country has experienced a decline in overall
mortality, largely due to the lack of specic measures in the eld of road
safety. In fact, the risk of road trac deaths in low-income countries is
still three times higher than in high-income countries. The highest rates
173
CUESTIONES POLÍTICAS
Vol. 39 Nº 70 (2021): 165-179
are observed in Africa (26.6 cases per 100,000 people), and the lowest in
Europe (9.3 cases per 100,000 people).
Dierences in road trac death rates have dierential dierences
according to the types of road users (drivers, passengers, pedestrians).
Globally, pedestrians and cyclists account for 26% of all road trac deaths,
with 44% in Africa and 36% in the Eastern Mediterranean. Motorcyclists
and their passengers account for 28% of all road trac deaths, but in some
regions this gure is higher - for example, in Southeast Asia it is 43%, and in
the Western Pacic 36%. According to the general forecast, as the number
of vehicles grows, road trac injuries may become the eighth leading cause
of death in the world by 2030 (Snyder and Ni, 2017).
Pursuing the achievement of the “global” goal of improving road safety
for its participants, it is necessary to take into account that the organization
and functioning of state systems in this area depend on many factors,
and above all on the economic level of the country, on the quality of life
of citizens, on the development of public institutions. The low level of
ensuring the safety of road users in developing countries is associated with
insucient funding for activities aimed at prevention and preventive means
of accidents. Countries with a high risk in the eld of road safety, as a rule,
are characterized by signicant wear and tear of vehicles, an inappropriate
level of road infrastructure, inconsistency in the actions of emergency
services, low eciency of medical care, imperfect legal framework, and
in this perspective, they are considered either “lagging” or “catching up”
(Petrov, 2016). The relevant UN organizations provide assistance and
support to states in strengthening the basic foundations of ensuring the
safety of road users, and also call for the study of eective experience in
this area.
Low rates of road accidents and human casualties in Western Europe,
USA, Canada, Australia, which have signicant experience and constant
improvement in the security system, in modern conditions show a steady
trend (4-8%) to further reduce the risk for the health and life of road users,
with a high level of motorization. In the reports of the WHO, it is noted that
among the milestones of the regions of the world, only the countries of the
European Union have achieved the best results.
Such results in the eld of road safety in the EU countries are explained
primarily by the legal provisions on liability for trac violations. The main
emphasis is placed on material responsibility. This is not only heavy nes,
deprivation of a driver’s license, linking the number and severity of violations
to the payment for compulsory car insurance, but also conscation of the
vehicle.
In European countries, a new approach to calculating nes for trac
violations has also emerged: the amount of the ne directly depends on the
174
Igor Pastukh, Iryna Bukhtiiarova, Nataliia Kapitonova y Bohdan Ahanin
World experience of legal regulation of road safety
oender’s monthly salary or the minimum wage established in the country,
and the oender’s annual earnings (income).
In addition, the minimum nes for especially dangerous violations on
the road have been increased from 2 to 10 times. In the case violators pay a
ne on the spot to the police or within 3-7 banking days, the amount of the
ne is reduced from 30 to 50%. The amount of the ne is increased by 2–3
times (due to penalties) if the oender has not paid for it within 1 month
or more.
In some countries (Belgium, Israel, Spain, USA), for non-payment of
a ne, it is envisaged to conscate a vehicle on bail or pay for storage in a
parking lot, and revoke a driver’s license (Japan).
Nowadays, the center of gravity of the global political and economic
activity is shifting more and more from West to East. In the Asia-Pacic
region (APR), in the countries of the east coast (China, Japan, Republic of
Korea, Mongolia, Singapore, India, etc.), where almost half of the world’s
population is concentrated (more than 3.5 billion people), legal regulation,
organization and maintenance of road safety is carried out with dierent
levels of eciency. The APR states are included in the largest integration
communities of countries (ASEAN, APEC, SCO, BRICS), which gives an
intensive impetus to their development (Tsygankov, 2016).
Over the past decade, China has been actively addressing issues related
to transport, road and social risks in the eld of road safety. China has a
population of about 1.4 billion, making it the most populous country in
the world. According to the forecasts of authoritative studies, including
the Morgan-Stanley banking holding, by 2022 the volume of China’s gross
domestic product may increase to $ 12 trillion and reach the level of the
United States. Such a rapid economic growth would have been impossible
without the development of transport infrastructure, which is constantly
being modernized, including the increase in the number of highways and
car parks (Troshchinsky, 2015). Intensive rates of road construction in
China were in the period 2000-2005, when the length of public roads
increased almost 3 times. The total length of China’s roads, including rural
ones, is 4.69 million km. By now, China has one of the most developed road
networks in the world (Aleksandrov and Petrykin, 2017).
Particular attention in the legislation of most countries is paid to
driving a car in a state of alcoholic (or drug) intoxication. This oense is
considered one of the most dangerous (along with exceeding the speed limit
and passing a red trac light) and is severely punished. In China, for quite
a long time, they did not attach particular importance to the high degree
of public danger to this oense. Statistical data show that in 1998, due to
the fault of drivers in a state of alcoholic (drug) intoxication, 2,363 people
died in the country, in 2008 - 3,060 people. Nevertheless, for this oense
175
CUESTIONES POLÍTICAS
Vol. 39 Nº 70 (2021): 165-179
(without road accidents and human casualties), 12 points were canceled
(limit for 1 year), deprivation of the right to drive a car from three to six
months, a ne from 500 to 2000-yuan, administrative arrest up to 15 days
(Chimarov, 2015).
However, everything changed “at a critical point” in 2009, after several
high-prole cases (trac accidents with a large number of victims, due
to the fault of young drivers in a state of alcoholic intoxication), the most
decisive and harsh measures were taken, changes were made in the current
legislation of the PRC, establishing criminal, administrative and disciplinary
responsibility for driving while intoxicated. In the event of the death of two
or more persons, severe measures of criminal liability are provided in the
form of life imprisonment, and in some cases - the death penalty (Mayorov
and Dunaeva, 2018).
The trac police (transport departments) stepped up activities to
identify drivers in a state of alcoholic intoxication, and in the same 2009, 722
thousand similar cases were identied, with corresponding consequences.
The result is a sharp reduction in road accidents and human casualties due
to the fault of drivers in a state of intoxication. General positive results were
achieved with the help of consistent state (program) policy, improving the
legislative framework, increasing the eectiveness of the activities of the
People’s Police of the PRC.
Japan has been demonstrating one of the vivid and stable examples of
a successful solution to the problem of ensuring the safety of road users for
several decades. The country has 1.2 million km of roads, which have high-
quality road surface and developed infrastructure, an ecient transport
system that serves the country’s population of 126 million people. In the
world statistics on the rate of decrease in the number of fatalities as a result
of road accidents and road safety, Japan occupies one of the rst places.
In 1990, the country recorded 14,595 deaths as a result of road accidents,
in 2003 - almost 2 times less - 8877 people, and in 2013 - 4373 people,
(who died within 24 hours), the death toll in road accidents later amounted
to 5151 people (in Japan, those who died within 30 days after an accident
are separately taken into account), in 2017 - 3904 people (who died within
24 hours), which corresponds to the statistics of 1949 (Polyakova and
Dunaeva, 2019).
Since the 2000s, the Government of Japan has been carrying out road
safety activities within the framework of the adopted long-term Program
(until 2020). Currently, Japan has a Universal Trac Management
System (UTMS), which began in the 1990s, which signicantly increases
the mobility and safety of road users. The main functions of UTMS are as
follows: 1) prevention of road trac accidents; 2) quick response to road
trac accidents; 3) reduction of “trac jams” in “rush hour” 4) assistance
to the elderly and disabled 5) expansion of mobile communication with
176
Igor Pastukh, Iryna Bukhtiiarova, Nataliia Kapitonova y Bohdan Ahanin
World experience of legal regulation of road safety
other systems (related to road transport) 6) reduction of “interference and
pollution” of the road environment.
The main trend in the organization of road safety is the reduction of
direct contacts between the police and trac oenders, due to centralized
electronic control points, automatic complexes for photo and video
recording of trac violations, as well as other innovations, which reduces
the factor of psychological stress in potentially conict situations. Despite
a signicant decrease in the personal presence of police representatives
on the roads of Japan (mainly only in road trac accidents), the social
signicance of the department is highly appreciated by the public (Mayorov
and Sevryugin, 2015).
Thus, a high level of eciency in ensuring safety in the eld of road
trac in Japan should be sought in the key factors:
1) a exible and timely legislative framework for the organization of road
trac corresponding to the changing conditions of development.
2) program-targeted nature of state policy in this area;
3) timely improvement of road infrastructure.
4) application of innovative road safety management systems.
5) preventive work on the involvement of the entire population of the
country in the observance of trac rules and maintenance of safety.
The long-term result of the state policy is that in modern Japan (as well
as in the “closest neighbor” South Korea, which has adopted this positive
experience), one of the lowest rates of road accidents not only in the Asia-
Pacic region, but also in the world. Violation of trac rules is considered
by the Japanese and Koreans as a sign of “low culture”, “bad taste” and is
very much condemned by society (Chimarov, 2015), which may indicate a
stable social institution of road safety and high legal integration of society.
Conclusions
Thus, the modern development of public institutions, economics
and technologies qualitatively change road trac, which increases the
requirements for public administration, for improving legislation, for the
activities of the trac police in the eld of ensuring the safety of road users.
The analysis of statistics shows that the most serious violations on the
road in the whole world are considered to be exceeding the established
speed, driving a car under the inuence of alcohol and drugs, driving at a
red trac light. The greatest responsibility is established for these oenses
in almost all countries of the world.
177
CUESTIONES POLÍTICAS
Vol. 39 Nº 70 (2021): 165-179
The above analysis of the practice of legal regulation in the eld of road
safety allows us to draw the following main conclusions:
1. At present, a systematic approach to ensuring road safety, which
includes the development of target indicators, the use of systematic
and evidence-based measures aimed at preventing road accidents
and reducing the severity of their consequences, as well as providing
medical assistance after an accident, is an objectively necessary
condition for reducing accident rate.
2. The regulatory legal framework in the eld of road safety is built
primarily on the basis of the constitutional principles of building
legislation and national characteristics.
3. In the overwhelming majority of countries, the general principle of
“primacy of the law” is in eect, i.e. all requirements that are binding
on trac participants are enshrined in legislative acts.
Bibliographic References
AGUREEVA, Olga. 2006. “Help crossing the border”. GrossMedia. Moscow,
Russia. 256 p.
ALEKSANDROV, Alexandr; PETRYKIN, Nikolay. 2017. “Features of ensuring
safety at transport facilities in the People’s Republic of China” In: Bulletin
of the East Siberian Institute of the Ministry of Internal Aairs. Vol. 4,
pp. 16-22.
BULAVKIN, Alexandr. 2016. “Problematic issues of improving state regulation
in the eld of road safety” In: Concept: scientic and methodological
electronic journal. Vol. 15, pp. 2391-2395.
CHAMLIN, Mitchell; SANDERS, Beth. 2017. “Social policy and crash fatalities:
a multivariate time series analysis” In: Journal of crime & justice. Vol. 41,
No. 3, pp. 322-333.
CHIMAROV, Sergey. 2015. “Phenomenon of the “Chinese Dream” in the Context
of “Soft Power” of the PRC” In: National Association of Scientists. Vol. 15-
1, No. 15, pp. 68-69.
HYSING, Erik. 2021. “Responsibilization: The case of road safety governance”
In: Regulation & governance. Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 356-369.
MAYOROV, Vladimir; ANDREEVA, Yulia. 2017. “On the codication of the
norms of administrative proceedings in Russia and England” In: Bulletin
of the Nizhny Novgorod University named after N.I. Lobachevsky. Vol.
1, pp. 135-142.
178
Igor Pastukh, Iryna Bukhtiiarova, Nataliia Kapitonova y Bohdan Ahanin
World experience of legal regulation of road safety
MAYOROV, Vladimir; DUNAEVA, Olga. 2018. “The legal framework for police
activities to ensure the safety of road users in the People’s Republic of
China” In: Bulletin of the Omsk Law Academy. Vol. 4, No. 15, pp. 480-
486.
MAYOROV, Vladimir; GOROVENKO, Sergey. 2018. “Administrative liability
for systematic violation of trac rules: foreign experience” In: Socio-
political sciences. Vol. 5, pp. 273-275.
MAYOROV, Vladimir; SEVRYUGIN, Vitaliy. 2015. “Foreign experience in
developing targeted comprehensive programs to ensure the safety of
road users” In: All-Russian criminological journal. Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 766-
776.
PETROV, Andrey. 2016. “Road accident rate as an identier of the quality of life
of citizens” In: Economic and social changes: facts, trends, forecast. Vol.
3, No. 45, pp. 154-170.
POLYAKOVA, Svetlana; DUNAEVA, Olga. 2019. “International trends in
improving the eciency of ensuring the safety of road users” In: Bulletin
of the Ural Institute of Finance and Law. Vol. 1, No. 15, pp. 66-69.
SIMONSON, Jocelyn. 2021. “Police Reform Through a Power Lens” In: Yale
law journal. Vol. 130, No. 4, pp. 778-860.
SNYDER, Francis; NI, Lili. 2017. “Chinese Apples and the Emerging World
Food Trade Order: Food Safety, International Trade, and Regulatory
Collaboration between China and the European Union” In: Chinese
journal of comparative law. Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 253-307.
TROSHCHINSKY, Pavel. 2015. “Legal regulation of the ght against “drunk
driving”: the experience of China” In: Journal of Foreign Law and
Comparative Law. Vol. 6, pp.1062–1070.
TSYGANKOV, Petr. 2016. International relations and world politics. Yurayt
Publishing House. Moscow, Russia.
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION. 2011. Global Road Safety Action Plan
2011–2020. Available online. In: www.who.int/roadsafety/decade_of_
action/. Consultation date: 30/02/2021.
www.luz.edu.ve
www.serbi.luz.edu.ve
www.produccioncienticaluz.org
Esta revista fue editada en formato digital y publicada
en octubre de 2021, por el Fondo Editorial Serbiluz,
Universidad del Zulia. Maracaibo-Venezuela
Vol.39 Nº Especial