Azerbaijan, Baku, April 16 /Trend, N.Ismayilova/
About $3.8 billion was invested in the road infrastructure of Azerbaijan in 2005-2009, but the overall quality of road network in the country remains low, said the World Bank expert on infrastructure Nijat Veliyev at the presentation of the Confronting "Death on Wheels" Making Roads Safe in Europe and Central Asia report on April 16.
"Investments were mainly aimed at the restoration of highways and transit roads, as well as the infrastructure of the Baku city," said Veliyev. Today, the total length of highways in the country is 1,871 km, the length of roads of national purpose - 2706 km, local roads - 14,222 km.
"The total number of vehicles in Azerbaijan for the last year amounted to 937,000. 81 car accounted for 1000 people in Azerbaijan, while a similar rate in the U.S. is about 700 units, that is, in Azerbaijan there are good opportunities for the growth of this index," he said.
From 2000 to 2009 the number of vehicles in Azerbaijan increased by 113 percent. "In 2009, 2,792 road accidents killed 930 people, injured 3,044 people, despite that since 2005 the number of injured and killed in such accidents started to decline. And this tendency continues, but much more need to be done to stimulate reduction of it," said Veliyev.
According to him, the main problems with the roads in the country are poor quality of roads, issues relating to traffic management, such as the absence of an adequate level of road signs and markings, bus stops at undesignated places, lack of crosswalks in residential areas.
"However, the full enforcement of laws existing in the country would greatly reduce traffic accidents, despite that the legislative framework in the country is still does not fully correspond with European legislation," he said.
WB recommends introducing high-speed aisles, installing cameras and radars [work has already started in this regard], ensuring an adequate level of compliance with the requirements of safety belts, child seat installation, as well as requirements for pedestrians and bus drivers.
According to Veliyev, today only 45 percent of highways, 30 percent of roads of national importance and 16 percent of local roads are in good condition.