Comments on: Notes from the Armenian Blogosphere

by: Myrthe

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 10:27:49 +0000

As to how long it will last: I noticed that in the last few days marshruka drivers are taking passengers again who don’ t stand at the busstops. Also, right before New Year the marshrutka-driver told the passengers that he would stop away from the busstops as well when there was no police around. At least some of the drivers are not as strick anymore. Don’t know if this is because it is so quiet on the roads and there are less passengers because of New Year, though.

by: Onnik

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 00:46:18 +0000

Incidently, regarding the matter of jay walking, the driver does appear to have been found guilty of reckless driving even if the verdict doesn’t seem to amount to much. Therefore, I want to stress again that while jaywalking is a problem in Armenia, the matter of reckless driving is one of more concern, and one of the major issues facing the city. It is chaos. It is anarchy.

I can even remember noting how drivers in Georgia actually overtake safely using their indicators as well as how ordered the traffic was in Tbilisi in comparison to Yerevan. That said, I would say that once or twice in the past year I have been encouraged by a few drivers who not only decry the lack of law on the roads, but who also stop for pedestrians when they attempt to cross roads.

However, I can count those people on one hand. Still, it’s encouraging, but as with everything here, there is no critical mass. Indeed, the problems here are major, and the vast majority are part of them all. For example, I would say that while pedestrians are at risk, stick them behind the wheel of the car and they’d probably be no different.

Or it’s like the buses. They’re overcrowded and an accident waiting to happen, but people still voluntarily get on to stand squashed like sardines in a potential death trap. Indeed, many passengers now complain about the law regulating where buses can stop because they’re used to waving them down wherever they want. They complain when a bus is too full to let them on, although like me, a few now refuse to enter a bus that’s dangerously over capacity.

Anyway, this is a first, and something that can be built upon, but I wonder how long it will last. Incidently, on this, there were some posts on the new regulations and attempts to enforce them on the following blogs:

http://armenianodar.blogspot.com/2006/12/there-shall-be-law-and-order-for.html

http://lifearoundme.wordpress.com/2006/12/01/trained-for-the-rule/

http://www.blogrel.com/2006/12/04/so-thats-what-the-busstops-were-for/

Thankfully there are significantly less cars and buses on the roads in the winter, so let’s see how the situation is in the spring.

by: Onnik

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 00:34:13 +0000

So, it’s interesting. Why two lieutenants were doing the waving down and not their subordinates. Moreover, they were together doing it and not with other less senior officiers. Trying to think back now to work out if there was something extraordinary going on at the time — i.e. more money is collected when more money is needed for things such as electoral bribes and so on. However, it was after the elections so that can’t be it, unless they were trying to get back all the money they spent on vote bribes, of course.

Like how Armenians swear that prices usually go up, or loaves of bread get smaller, immediately after elections. Or maybe it was just a rare event. Still, at least I got away with snapping their picture. The police usually do everything they can do stop their photographs being taken even at rallies. It’s hard to explain to them that there’s no law which says it’s forbidden, but old Soviet habits die hard, I guess.

by: Haik

Tue, 02 Jan 2007 18:52:36 +0000

The reason that they laughted is that they are First Lieutenants. 1000 drams doesnt satisfy their ranks and surely they would order their subordinates to stop your car whenever they spot it.

by: Onnik

Tue, 02 Jan 2007 17:06:01 +0000

Incidently, it’s worth pointing out that the traffic police at the top of this post were not involved in Araz’s death. However, they did wave myself and a team of social workers from Médecins Sans Frontières-France down to solicit a bribe in Yerevan one summer. We refused to pay, of course, with MSF identifying themselves as such and I identifying myself as a journalist. They burst into a nervous laughter as we stood our ground and I snapped a photograph. The policeman on the left asked me if I lived in Armenia to which I said yes, and as I walked away the one on the right muttered “Then we’ll eat your life at a later date.”

Of course, they’re just obeying orders as the money solicited from bribes gets passed up a chain that goes straight to the top, but really, some police force.