Road Rage in Kazakstan
Owners of right-hand drive cars are outraged at a government plan to ban such vehicles.
Road Rage in Kazakstan
Owners of right-hand drive cars are outraged at a government plan to ban such vehicles.
This is a real blow below the belt. What am I supposed to do?” asked Timur, complaining of a recent government decision that many people in Kazakstan feel is an infringement of their basic freedoms.
The issue is not politics or human rights, but which side a car’s steering wheel should be on.
Most cars in Kazakstan, as in Russia and other countries where traffic drives on the right, have their steering wheels on the left-hand side. But Timur is among a growing band of drivers who have acquired right-hand drive cars, purchased second-hand in Japan and sold at affordable prices.
“Cars of the model I have are manufactured in Japan with a diesel engine for the domestic market only, and so they come with right-hand steering,” he explained.
In a November 13 ruling, Kazakstan’s Security Council banned such vehicles, saying they cause too many accidents.
No right-hand drive vehicles can be imported from January next year, and even more controversially, all those already in the country will have to be off the road by 2009.
The head of Kazakstan’s traffic police, Omurzak Tusumov, said road safety concerns had forced the move.
“Three thousand people die in car accidents every year in Kazakstan,” he said.
Interior ministry statistics show the number of deaths involving right-hand drive cars so far this year has risen by 100 per cent compared with the same period last year.
“The figures speak for themselves,” said Tusumov, citing a study commissioned from Kazakstan’s transport academy. “The technical disadvantage of these cars is that their headlights point to the left and dazzle oncoming drivers.”
Car journalist Diaz Abylkasov, who works for the Virazh dealership which mostly sells new Russian-made cars, believes the authorities were right to enforce a ban on used right-hand vehicles.
“These cars are usually over seven years old, so they are dirtier to run. I think it’s part of an environmental programme…. But the main reason is the danger these cars pose. Their drivers have to swing right out into the other lane and often fail to react to an oncoming car. I have friends who’ve had crashes in these cars,” he said.
Right-hand drivers dispute such claims, saying the dangers are exaggerated.
“Cars with right-hand steering wheels are only inconvenient in two situations – overtaking and turning left at an intersection. To avoid accidents, you can fit special overtaking mirrors, which I’ve done,” said Timur. “And right-hand drive can be more convenient – when I park the car I can get right out on to the footpath.”
Another driver, who did not want to be named, told IWPR how he joined a demonstration mounted by owners angered at the prospect of losing their cars in 2009.
“About 500 cars took part,” he said. “First we protested in our cars - we drove along, flashed our indicators, and obstructed cars with left-handed steering. Then we marched on foot.”
This man, who believes “someone in Astana needs to have his head examined”, said it was unfair to pick on cars made for the Japanese market, which he said were cheaper, safer and more eco-friendly than equivalent models imported from Europe.
Although the centres of its big cities may be congested, Kazakstan has only 12 cars per 100 people, compared with around 15 in Russia and over 50 in Germany. There is no domestic car industry, and in the last decade the Russian-made Volgas and Ladas that were once ubiquitous have increasingly been displaced by foreign models.
Shiny new Mercedes and Jeeps are common sights in the big cities, but represent an insignificant elite market segment. Of the 240,000 cars imported last year, less than 40,000 were new, and most of the rest were over seven years old, according to trade ministry data.
The second-hand cars are either brought over from Europe or imported from Japan – the source of all right-hand drive vehicles. Over the past four years, 800,000 used models have been imported into Kazakstan, which has just over 1.5 million cars. Tusumov told the Security Council meeting that there are now 117,000 right-hand drive motors in the country.
There is a perception that the proposed ban will unfairly punish the emerging middle class in Kazakstan, who can just about afford to buy a Japanese import on their modest budgets. Running these models is cheap, too, with Chinese-made spare parts readily available.
Despite the safety reasons cited by the government, the proposed ban has sparked conspiracy theories – for example that powerful business groups wanted to stem the flow of cheap imports so as to tighten their control over car sales.
While the import ban seems likely to be enforced next year, it is possible the government may yet reconsider or soften its decision to outlaw right-hand cars on Kazakstan’s roads in two years’ time. The interior ministry’s recommendation to the Security Council meeting which took the decision only proposed stopping new vehicle registrations after a certain deadline.
Filip Prokudin is an independent journalist in Almaty.
The issue is not politics or human rights, but which side a car’s steering wheel should be on.
Most cars in Kazakstan, as in Russia and other countries where traffic drives on the right, have their steering wheels on the left-hand side. But Timur is among a growing band of drivers who have acquired right-hand drive cars, purchased second-hand in Japan and sold at affordable prices.
“Cars of the model I have are manufactured in Japan with a diesel engine for the domestic market only, and so they come with right-hand steering,” he explained.
In a November 13 ruling, Kazakstan’s Security Council banned such vehicles, saying they cause too many accidents.
No right-hand drive vehicles can be imported from January next year, and even more controversially, all those already in the country will have to be off the road by 2009.
The head of Kazakstan’s traffic police, Omurzak Tusumov, said road safety concerns had forced the move.
“Three thousand people die in car accidents every year in Kazakstan,” he said.
Interior ministry statistics show the number of deaths involving right-hand drive cars so far this year has risen by 100 per cent compared with the same period last year.
“The figures speak for themselves,” said Tusumov, citing a study commissioned from Kazakstan’s transport academy. “The technical disadvantage of these cars is that their headlights point to the left and dazzle oncoming drivers.”
Car journalist Diaz Abylkasov, who works for the Virazh dealership which mostly sells new Russian-made cars, believes the authorities were right to enforce a ban on used right-hand vehicles.
“These cars are usually over seven years old, so they are dirtier to run. I think it’s part of an environmental programme…. But the main reason is the danger these cars pose. Their drivers have to swing right out into the other lane and often fail to react to an oncoming car. I have friends who’ve had crashes in these cars,” he said.
Right-hand drivers dispute such claims, saying the dangers are exaggerated.
“Cars with right-hand steering wheels are only inconvenient in two situations – overtaking and turning left at an intersection. To avoid accidents, you can fit special overtaking mirrors, which I’ve done,” said Timur. “And right-hand drive can be more convenient – when I park the car I can get right out on to the footpath.”
Another driver, who did not want to be named, told IWPR how he joined a demonstration mounted by owners angered at the prospect of losing their cars in 2009.
“About 500 cars took part,” he said. “First we protested in our cars - we drove along, flashed our indicators, and obstructed cars with left-handed steering. Then we marched on foot.”
This man, who believes “someone in Astana needs to have his head examined”, said it was unfair to pick on cars made for the Japanese market, which he said were cheaper, safer and more eco-friendly than equivalent models imported from Europe.
Although the centres of its big cities may be congested, Kazakstan has only 12 cars per 100 people, compared with around 15 in Russia and over 50 in Germany. There is no domestic car industry, and in the last decade the Russian-made Volgas and Ladas that were once ubiquitous have increasingly been displaced by foreign models.
Shiny new Mercedes and Jeeps are common sights in the big cities, but represent an insignificant elite market segment. Of the 240,000 cars imported last year, less than 40,000 were new, and most of the rest were over seven years old, according to trade ministry data.
The second-hand cars are either brought over from Europe or imported from Japan – the source of all right-hand drive vehicles. Over the past four years, 800,000 used models have been imported into Kazakstan, which has just over 1.5 million cars. Tusumov told the Security Council meeting that there are now 117,000 right-hand drive motors in the country.
There is a perception that the proposed ban will unfairly punish the emerging middle class in Kazakstan, who can just about afford to buy a Japanese import on their modest budgets. Running these models is cheap, too, with Chinese-made spare parts readily available.
Despite the safety reasons cited by the government, the proposed ban has sparked conspiracy theories – for example that powerful business groups wanted to stem the flow of cheap imports so as to tighten their control over car sales.
While the import ban seems likely to be enforced next year, it is possible the government may yet reconsider or soften its decision to outlaw right-hand cars on Kazakstan’s roads in two years’ time. The interior ministry’s recommendation to the Security Council meeting which took the decision only proposed stopping new vehicle registrations after a certain deadline.
Filip Prokudin is an independent journalist in Almaty.
