Online Petition — Make a Difference
Harmick at Blogrel has posted a link to an online petition that almost everyone should be interested in signing. If you’ve been in Yerevan even for only a week you’ll know just how dangerous the traffic on the roads can be. There is no rule of law when it comes to driving, and those with expensive cars and the right connections drive as if they’re in Starsky & Hutch.
Unfortunately, however, everybody is to blame, and almost every driver is guilty, although there are sometimes one or two rare exceptions. Even so, there’s no doubt about it — the roads are dangerous, especially for pedestrians. Therefore, this petition really deserves support.
We, the undersigned are concerned citizens, visitors and devotees of our beloved land, Armenia. Our concern is the safety of all pedestrians, especially those in the streets of Yerevan. The traffic laws and regulations presently in place do not reflect the rapid increase of motor vehicles and unsafe drivers in the country. Our request from the government is: to act fast upon this life-threatening and concerning issue. Since the present laws do not work in favor of pedestrians, there is neither a safeguard nor justice for the victims, and the ramification for the motorists is from minimum to none.
Harmick provides more information on the background to this petition — a 17 year old with her whole future ahead of her until she was killed by a reckless driver in Yerevan who managed to get away with a light sentence. There are countless more such cases so I urge you all to sign the petition.
To end on a brighter note, however, I’m glad to see that somebody has started a petition. It’s also worth pointing you towards the albeit small “Right to Walk” demo that was held in Yerevan in October.
Just noticed that the same post is also at Cilicia.com’s Life in Armenia so I’m unsure as to the origins of the text in the first place. Harmick’s comment seems to imply that it wasn’t Blogrel, but I’m unsure if that means it came from Der Hova or not.
Regardless, wherever it came from, it’s worth signing and I’d like to see EVERY Armenian blog link to this petition. Here’s a perfect example of how we can all support a worthwhile cause via our blogs and there’s really no excuse for not doing so.
Kudos to whoever got it started, but wish bloggers made reference to the source of material in the first place. For example, in this case I’m acknowledging reading it first on Blogrel and so on. It’s common blogging etiquette, but one that most Armenian bloggers forget.
And in this case, I’m just confused as to who the original source is.
Comment by Onnik — December 19, 2006 @ 3:19 pm