On March 5, one of the reports of Public Television’s “Lurer” was about the efficiency of the penalty points system applied in case of violation of traffic rules. The journalist mentioned that after the changes introduced in 2021, the number of road accidents in Yerevan have decreased.
“In general, after the introduction of the points system, traffic accidents in Yerevan have decreased. In the report, compared with 2019, the RA Deputy Chief of Police mentioned that in 2021 1,920 road accidents were registered in Yerevan, in 2019 2,172. The number of deaths is 78 in 2021, 86 in 2019,” the report says.
The graph presented in the report
In the same report, the journalist also talks to Deputy Chief of Police Ara Fidanyan, who presents the results of the police analysis. “As a result of the analysis, we come to the conclusion that the introduction of the points system has definitely contributed to the reduction of the number of accidents, deaths, and injuries in the city of Yerevan.”
The number of accidents in 2021 in the report is compared to the worst year, 2019. The report does not mention why the comparison was made with that year, and not, for example, with 2020 or 2018. Media.am has already reported on the number of road accidents, deaths and injuries registered in Yerevan during the last 7 years.
As you can see, there are more accidents registered in Yerevan in 2021 than in 2020 (which was 366 less), 2018 (88 less), 2017 (376 less), 2016 in (it was less by 503), and in 2015 (it was less by 521).
2021 was not favorable in terms of the number of deaths compared to previous years. Compared to 2020, the number of deaths has increased by 4, compared to 2017 – by 6, compared to 2016 – by 4. Compared to 2019, 2018 and 2015, the number of deaths has decreased.
As for the number of injured, the 2,434 injuries registered in 2021 are more than those registered in 2020, 2017, 2016 and 2015.
Of course, the low index of 2020 is connected with the epidemic restrictions, therefore the comparison with that year alone could not show an objective picture. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the points system and get a complete picture, it is necessary to present the index for at least the last few years.
Thus, the statistics presented in the “News” report are manipulative, as they do not present the complete picture of the efficiency of the points system, as the comparison was made with the worst year of recent years, 2019, without mentioning the validity of such a comparison. The same comparison can be made with 2020 or 2018 depicting the opposite picture in the form of an increase in the number of accidents.
Ophelia Simonyan
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