Dangerous Driving in Turkmenistan

As the authorities in Turkmenistan start enforcing new rules of the road, locals say traffic safety measures are long overdue, with numerous accidents on the highways every day.

Regulations in place since January 1 are designed to bring Turkmenistan into compliance with United Nations conventions on road traffic and signs.

As the new rules came in, the official in charge of the traffic police, Deputy Interior Minister Berdymuhammed Rejepov, was dismissed for “serious failings”, which seems to be a reference to the high rate of crashes on the roads.

The government does not publish statistics on traffic accidents, but independent estimates suggest the number of accidents in 2011 showed a 25 per cent rise on the previous year.

A traffic police inspector in the Ahal region said the highway from the capital Ashgabat to Dashoguz in the north of the country was known as the “road of death". In 2010, there were 140 accidents resulting in 300-plus casualties on this one road, he said.

Another traffic officer who asked not to be named said there were around five accidents a day on the road east from Ashgabat to Mary region.

The late Turkmen leader Saparmurat Niazov abolished the traffic police force and handed over its powers to army conscripts. The current president, Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov, restored the traffic police when he came to power in 2007.

One of the factors contributing to chaos on the roads is corruption, since drivers can bribe their way out of fines that range up to 30 US dollars.

"You can pay off a traffic cop who’s using a speed radar," Kakageldi, who drives a minibus taxi in an Ashgabat, said. He believes speed cameras, as used in neighbouring Kazakhstan, would be more impartial.

According to one local commentator, more serious offences involving casualties can also be swept under the carpet if the price is right.

"If the driver is at fault for causing injury but not death, it will take a bribe of around 3,000 dollars to get the case closed,” he said. That includes both the bribe due to the forensic pathologist, and a payment to cover treatment for the person injured."

Some road users have bought their driving license rather than sit the test.

"People, especially young people, don’t want to waste time going to driving school," a local journalist said. "They prefer to hand over the money and get a license, which these days can cost 600 dollars or more."

This article was produced as part of IWPR's News Briefing Central Asia output, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy.

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