"There is no spare life." How the female traffic police crew raises children on the roads of the Gomel region 

News topic Passengers, pedestrians, cyclists, moped riders, scooter riders, and sometimes drivers without a license - children on the roads, especially in the summer, are especiallycare not only of parents, but also of traffic police officers. The older the children, the more dangerous the equipment at their disposal, the more serious the accidents and their consequences. Therefore, no less attention is paid to young road users than to adults. On Saturday morning, a BELTA correspondent went on a raid with a female traffic police crew. The official crossover headed to places where children and teenagers are attracted.

Control multiplied by four

On Friday, the region launched a preventive event "Safe Roads of Gomel Region". Until Monday, control on transport arteries and adjacent territories has been increased at least fourfold. Road patrol units of the Mogilev, Brest and MINSK regions and crews of the special traffic police unit "Strela" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have been sent to the region.
All crews have one goal - prevention of serious traffic violations, detection and suppression of drunk and unlicensed driving, speeding, violation of overtaking and driving into the oncoming lane, and crossing intersections. 
Motorcyclists and vulnerable road users are not ignored. Traffic police officers work on highways and populated areas in a mixed control mode. In addition, work from the air is organized - violations are recorded using quadcopters. 
By the way, a female crew is working in Gomel and the Gomel region today. Senior inspector of the agitation and propaganda group of the interdistrict department of the State Traffic Inspectorate of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Gomel Regional Executive Committee Darya Tkacheva and senior inspector of the agitation and propaganda department of the State Traffic Inspectorate of the Internal Affairs Directorate Anna Kovaleva went on a preventive raid. The route is laid out along places of attraction for children and teenagers. it was chosen taking into account the alarming situation: in seven months, 35 accidents involving children occurred in the region, in which two children died and 37 were injured. An increase in such accidents is recorded in Gomel and the Gomel region, as well as Buda-Koshelevo, Kormyansky, Lelchitsy, Mozyr and Narovlyansky. 
Broken dreams

Merciless statistics indicate an increase in tragedies on the roads. Some will attribute this to chance or fate, but the cause is always a violation of traffic rules by one of the participants in the accident.
In fact, within 24 hours, two tragedies with teenagers occurred on one section of the P150 Gomel-Khutor road.

Late in the evening of August 8, a 33-year-old driver hit a 16-year-old cyclist who was crossing the roadway at an unregulated pedestrian crossing. The boy was taken to the hospital with injuries. The only child in the family did not survive until the morning.

Exactly one day before the tragedy on the same road, a 49-year-old woman lost control, drove off the roadway and hit a 14-year-old boy on a scooter, who was moving along the side of the road. The teenager was taken to the intensive care unit of the regional hospital with injuries. As the examination showed, the woman had 2.37 ALCOHOL ppm. At the same time, she is a mother of two children. An investigation is being conducted into both incidents.

Avoiding mistakes on the road

Not far from the sites of these accidents there is a large playground, where toddlers and older children flock. From any direction, the paths to it lead across the road. By midday, life is in full swing here, gathering those who arrived on a bicycle, a brand new electric or stunt scooter, or in their mother's arms.
Sixth-grader Artem expertly parks his electric scooter near the playground. He knows by heart how to use a personal mobility device and what rules must be followed for safe riding, which pleasantly surprised and pleased the traffic police inspectors. 
"My electric scooter can go up to 31 km/h at most, but I rode at 25 km/h. I know that you can't go more than 10 km/h on the sidewalk. The rules will be changed on September 1," he tells the traffic police inspectors. When asked where he knows all this from, he gives a detailed answer: "My parents told me, and at school too. I'm subscribed to the "GaiGomel" channel, so I read everything there." The traffic police inspectors praised the erudite man and presented him with themed souvenirs and a reflector. 
"I also came on a scooter. True, mine is not electric, it's a simple one. I always roll it on a pedestrian crossing," 8-year-old Darina approaches the traffic police officers. On September 1, she will go to third grade. And she happily passes the mini-exam, answering all the questions of the traffic police officers right away. 
For her inquisitive mind, activity and knowledge, the girl also received souvenirs. Her two-year-old sister Elina also received useful gifts.

Confidently, under her mother's supervision, she rides a Schumacher scooter in a Panama hat around the perimeter of the playground. As it turned out, the lover of fast driving is a six-year-old future first-grader Evgeny. 
Darya Tkacheva talked to the young road user about safety: how to cross the road correctly, where you can and cannot ride a scooter and a bicycle. 
And 12-year-old Ilya has been riding a bike for three years already. The two-wheeled transport is worthy, you can also perform tricks. "Do you know where you can ride a bicycle? How to cross the roadway?" - the examiner in uniform continues the conversation about the important thing. Each rule was discussed more than once, and the bicycle was also inspected. "Tell your parents that the reflectors and the front light need to be repaired. This is very important for safety, especially in the evening, so that other road users can see you," the traffic police officer emphasizes.
Another cyclist, Danik, is practically a grown-up guy, as he will soon be seven years old. A natural blond, almost a second-grader, he rolled in on his favorite bike. The traffic police inspectors also noticed that one of the reflectors had turned out to be so bad during use that it was not visible. They asked the young cyclist to remind his parents to fix the element, and gave him some useful souvenirs from the traffic police. "Oh, there's even a multiplication table here. I already know what 9 times 9 is. That's 81," the boy did not miss the opportunity to demonstrate his level of knowledge. "You need to know the traffic rules like the multiplication table, and always follow them," Anna Kovaleva emphasizes.
The traffic police inspectors told the children what kind of trouble had happened nearby the previous evening: "A boy on a bike was hit by a car. He died. Now his mother will never be able to hug him." 

"You understand that"reality is not a computer game where there are several lives. None of us has a spare life, so only compliance with the Traffic Regulations will protect us from trouble," Anna Kovaleva explained to the young cyclists.
A separate topic of conversation is older children. Recently, in the Yuzhny microdistrict, agitation and propaganda inspectors talked to teenagers who rode mopeds and scooters around the courtyards, for which you need to get a driver's license of category AM. "They rode around the yard, and even went further - to the gas station. We watched what was happening from a civilian car for some time. The guys were also driving little children on them. And at that time, adults were passing by and seemed not to notice anything dangerous. The materials were transferred to the commission on minors. The guys themselves are not bad, their academic performance is good," the representative of the female crew recalled a recent case.
Pit bikes are parked near the house where the inspectors had previously talked to the teenagers. "No license plates, so they are not registered. Let's hope that this is not for children's entertainment. Recently, more and more often in the news publics there are videos of teenagers who ride pit bikes on public roads. Unfortunately, not everyone knows that riding them on such roads is strictly prohibited. A pit bike is sports equipment and is intended for closed tracks, specialized sites and off-road. Teenagers can ride it only in protective gear, preferably under the supervision of a trainer. Pit bikes may seem like an attractive and exciting form of entertainment, but you need to realize that they pose a serious danger to your children. They are not equipped with the necessary safety systems - headlights, turn signals, rear-view mirrors, which makes their use on the roads extremely risky," explained the inspectors for agitation and propaganda.

The regional State Traffic Safety Inspectorate strongly recommends that all parents do not buy motor vehicles for their children without good reason, and also convey to them that getting behind the wheel of this vehicle without knowledge and skills is very dangerous - this can lead to dire consequences. They also reminded that legal representatives can be held liable for failure by parents or persons replacing them to fulfill their responsibilities for raising children in accordance with Article 10.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses.
The conversation is interrupted by a teenager riding an electric scooter on the sidewalk, intending to cross the roadway. There is a reason for a conversation. The traffic police officers got to know the guy and his gift for his 14th birthday better. "Dad gave me an electric scooter for my birthday. I've only been riding it for a week," he shared his joy. 
As it turned out, the guy will have to postpone this pleasure for a couple of years from September 1. The gift from his parents is powerful in all respects. To operate an electric scooter of such power, according to the changes in traffic rules that come into force on September 1, you need a category AM driver's license, and you can only get one from the age of 16. "Ride for now, but be very careful, watch the road. The cars parked here limit your visibility. Cross the roadway only after you are sure of the safety. And you can gradually study the traffic rules for the driving test," the inspectors recommended. 

And in the Selmashevsky microdistrict, a young cyclist crossed the road, controlling his two-wheeled vehicle with one hand, while discussing important teenage issues on his mobile phone. He explained to the traffic police crew that he was in a hurry to get to the bike shop - he urgently needed to repair his bike. He also promised that he would never violate the traffic rules. And this is the main goal of the traffic police's preventive work.
Such raids are only part of a huge array of preventive work with the youngest road users. The regional State Traffic Inspectorate trains disciplined drivers and pedestrians from childhood. Agitation and propaganda inspectors help parents lay the foundation for safety in their children, and sometimes strengthen the knowledge of adults themselves. All this is done solely so that children have a future, the State Traffic Inspectorate assures.

BELTA,
photo by the author.