Faction "United Russia" calls to discuss what additional decisions of the State Duma and the Government are needed today to ensure the safety of transportation of children.
Reports of accidents in vehicles carrying children are received with appalling regularity, and the tragedy in the Kaluga Region, where a bus overturned last Sunday, became another sad proof of the relevance of the topic, said Olga Okuneva, First Deputy Chairperson of the Committee on Family, Women and Children, speaking from the faction in the framework of the plenary session.
“Society demands from us a reaction, a reaction from the Government, observance from all organizations of interdepartmental interaction and observance of norms and rules,” she said.
The parliamentarian recalled that not so long ago the plan for the "Decade of Childhood" was approved, in which there is a section on the infrastructure of childhood. This document lists activities aimed at increasing transport accessibility for children who are engaged in additional education.
“Today, additional education is developing, the achievements of our young athletes, children who develop their talents, are engaged in choreography, are engaged in other circles, are assessed, as their participation in various competitions and olympiads is encouraged today. But not all of them take place on the territory of the region. And even in the territory of one region, in order to move from the farthest municipality, it takes several hours to get to the regional center,”the deputy stated.
Olga Okuneva stressed that buses that are not equipped properly cannot be used for organized transportation of children. “The main executor of the events for the“Decade of Childhood”is the Ministry of Education, and so, I would like to see guidelines for educational organizations, how parents, those who work with their children, can safely deliver children to certain events, so as not to think of other ways,”she said. "It is not so difficult to draw up lists, it is not so difficult to warn the traffic police, but, probably, everyone, including the Ministry of Transport, needs to think over a clear system."
The First Deputy Chairperson of the Committee said that the day before the Presidium of the faction held a meeting with the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Yevgeny Dietrich, at which the topic of child transportation safety became one of the topical ones. Both the deputies and the responsible departments will have to answer a number of questions together. “Why do managers find commercial organizations, and they irresponsibly allocate transport that is not prepared for transporting children? Why is it that in our public transport at all, if this is not an organized group of children, the child is just a passenger? Literally today there is a story on television: the traffic police stop the car and control whether there is a seat for the child. Why our public transport, licensed carrier organizations that transport children, do not have such appropriate requirements, for example, to have specially equipped places for children? " - said the parliamentarian.
The deputy also noted that often carriers who do not have the right to organize the transportation of children take on the appropriate obligations, while not providing security guarantees.
Olga Okuneva added that the United Russia faction will insist on an investigation into the accident involving a bus carrying children and bringing all those responsible to justice.
“We will make appropriate proposals and insist that the road safety authorities properly fulfill their duties,” she said.