• Submitted by: manso
• Society
• 04 / 17 / 2011

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LINO LUBEN PÉREZ. Cuba implemented a new Traffic Safety Code (Law 109) in March that prioritizes education and prevention measures to avoid traffic accidents in Cuba, said Lieutenant Colonel Mario Rios, from the Havana Police Traffic Division.

Rios said that this new law came into force last March and establishes that the Ministries of Education and Higher Education are responsible for educating young people, the segment of the population with the greatest levels of traffic violations, reported ACN.

Rios also said that Law 109 sets the bases for the preventive warning system free of points or fines.

The new legislation will focus on risk factors to both drivers and pedestrians, especially the consumption of alcohol (with more severe punishments) and the improper behavior of cyclists who drive holding on to vehicles, said Rios.

The new law also covers violations by vehicles using animal traction that travel at night without lights and speeding that can endanger the life of children and pedestrians.

The People’s Power National Assembly passed the Cuban Traffic Safety Code (Law 109) in August 2010 during the Fifth Ordinary Session of the Seventh Legislature. At the time, Transportation Minister Cesar Ignacio Arocha revealed that traffic accidents were the fifth cause of death in Cuba, which forced the government to update existing regulations to try to lower this rate.

According to data from the traffic division, during the last eight months of 2010, there were 6,750 accidents, 472 casualties and 4,884 injured; representing a decrease over the same period in 2009.
 
Source: Granma