Road Safety in the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation

Abstract

The article deals with the issue of road safety in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation.The analysis of road traffic accidents over the past 10 years that occurred in the Arctic zone of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) was carried out for the first time ever. The study refers to the total number of road traffic accidents, accidents due to the fault of pedestrians, accidents due to the unsatisfied condition of streets and roads, accidents involving children under 16 years of age, accidents involving drivers with signs of alcohol intoxication and accidents committed by drivers without the right to drive vehicles. Based on the data obtained, a coefficient K was proposed that characterises the state of road safety in the Arctic regions in comparison with traffic safety in general in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).The analysis of road traffic accident statistics has shown that many accidents are the fault of drivers without a driver’s license and revealed the districts with respectively the highest and lowest number of accidents as per their types listed above.Despite the huge territory and the small number of inhabitants, and consequently the low population density, the number of accidents in the Arctic zone of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) has been increasing every year necessitating efforts to improve road safety.