The Ministry of Infrastructure of the Republic of Serbia established the Transportation Control and Safety Committee with the aim of improving transportation safety. Following its first session, he Minister of Infrastructure, Mr. Milutin Mrkonjic made a press statement saying that this body was established due to the increased rate of accidents and the expected traffic increase once the “white list Schengen” had been granted. 

 

“The Committee has been established consisting of subcommittees responsible for the safety of air, maritime, road and rail transportation, and will have regular meetings once every 15 days. Each group will be responsible for performing analysis of safety status at least once in every three months in each mode of transport, and will propose measures and timeframes for their implementation”. 

 

Mr Nebojsa Starcevic, Director General of the Civil Aviation Directorate of the Republic of Serbia said that the average rate of incidents in Serbia amounted to one incident per 1.000 flying hours which is less than the same rates in EC, while serious incidents with fatalities occurred only once in 3 million takeoffs. Mr Starcevic expressed his opinion that, although the equipment used in Serbian civil aviation is quite outdated, it does not pose any safety concerns. He said, however, that this equipment incurs great costs. Only in Serbia and Turkey the increase in air traffic rate has been observed.

 

Mr Stojadin Jovanovic, a member of the Subcommittee for Road Transport Safety and Head of the Traffic Police Department of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia said that it is the right time for the establishment of this Committee since a new Transportation Safety Law will be enacted on 10 December.   

 

He also said that the number of fatalities decreased by half (from 1.800 to 950 human deaths) in road accidents in Serbia for the past couple of years. Mr Jovanovic emphasized that the number of fatalities could further be minimized by eliminating the usual cause of accidents, i.e. speeding. For that purpose, a large number of laser radars have been acquired and intercepting vehicles introduced. He also announced video surveillance to be introduced in other major towns as it had already been done in Belgrade for the purpose of the Universiade. 

 

Mr Milovan Markovic, Director General of the Serbian Railway System and the member of the Rail Transportation Safety Group, said that for the first 8 months of this year there had been 335 railway accidents involving 33 casualties. He also said that the analysis of the most critical railway and road intersections in Serbia had been performed announcing further investments into their safety. According to Mr Markovic, twenty percent of 2.280 of total railway intersections have been provided with state-of-the-art safety equipment i.e. railway bars and lighting systems.  

 

“In Serbia, eighty accidents occur per annum in maritime transportation implicating material damage and fatalities”, said Mr Pavle Galic, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and President of the Maritime Transportation Safety Group”. He announced that a new maritime law will be adopted by the end of this year enabling the increase in safety levels, also adding that the levels of safety control should be raised including the reconstruction of navigable waterways.