The Way Belarusian Motorists Protest

No country in the world will tolerate such a government.

More and more motorists have recently "boycott" the state motor vehicle inspection. 1.2 million of vehicle - almost a half of all registered vehicles in Belarus - failed to pass the motor vehicle inspection in time. Uladzimir Piulski, deputy head of the UP Beltekhosmotr, voiced these figures.

The authorities insist that this procedure guarantees safety on Belarusian roads. However, a one-time examination does not guarantee that a vehicle will operate properly during a year and will not cause an accident.

Since 1 January 2018, Belarus will have a basic unit increase, which means that the cost of a cherished certificate grows.

The motor vehicle inspection is not the only duty motorists have to pay. There are also the road tax, expensive insurance. It all strains wallets of ordinary Belarusians.

Is this infamous inspection so needed or is this just other method to milk Belarusians? Leanid Zaika, economist and head of the Strategy analytical center, answers questions of Charter97.org:

- The motor vehicle inspection is a backward Soviet syndrome bringing us back to "good old" times of construction of communism. Then police and traffic police officers came from the countryside. As soon as they got their epauletts, they immediately started putting pressure on "citizens with different inspections, bribery and other exactions.

This practice has remained in Belarus. Everyone knows the cherished certificate on motor vehicle inspection costs $30. And the state of a vehicle does not matter. I was informed by shrewd bribetakers and bribegivers.

And now let's take a look at the world experience. Even a "highly developed" and "European" country like Burundi has no motor vehicle inspection. The people who came up with the so-called inspection do not know their way around modern cars.

Russian specialists published studies. According to them, the number of vehicle condition related accidents makes up only 2% of all car accidents. According to the Russian police, this figure equals to 15%. I believe that if the number of vehicle condition related accidents equaled to 30%, the vehicle inspection would be reasonable.

But every driver takes care of his car. The exception is self-murderers. And if there are some, then they should be registered and subject them to the motor vehicle inspection.

- Does it mean that this is the other way to raise money on car owners?

- That's right. It's a completely useless procedure. If we want to fight corruption in the country, we must exclude such loopholes for bribery. Of course, if insurance companies want to, they can carry out such inspections. It can be done to determine the size of the insurance policy and risks. But this obligation is no more than an attempt to cover up self-regarding interests.

- This inspection is not the only exaction car owners have to pay. We can also recall the customs clearance and the car insurance, the infamous road toll...

- The road toll is a special story. In the 1990s I personally wrote an appeal to include it in the price of gasoline. Because a conditional uncle Fred who drives a motorcycle in a Pupki village has never seen asphalt in his life. The man spends his whole life driving along a gravel road, and he has to pay a road toll.

Idiocy reached the highest degree. There are guys in offices who counted engine cc, and now they count specific gravity.

It's a complete incompetence; they take a "maximum weight" which determines the amount of the road toll. I wonder what figures you operate when your car is loaded to the maximum. None of them did such calculations.

The road toll has, however, been included in the price of gasoline and it is now included for a second time in the road traffic duty. It is a twofold withdrawal. Motorists are just squeezed dry.

-If we go from particulars to generals, we have a number of such "veiled" exactions. From a scandalous tax on "parasitism" to the "Google tax" which is about to be introduced. How could you comment on this "lawmaking"?

- These measures provoke young and talented people to leave Belarus. No one will tolerate such a stupid government. Of course, no everyone will be able to escape. Those who do not "vote with their feet" will just boycott such decrees. And here we have more than a half of vehicles with no motor vehicle inspection certificate.

Our officials don't have to come up with anything. Smart people have already done all work. Let us pay the road toll based on the frequency of the vehicle use. If a person drives a car during three months then he should pay only for this period.

I propose to include all this in the price of gasoline as it is done in civilized countries. Generally speaking, all these tolls should be abandoned, because any government in the military, social and economic sense is interested in road and infrastructure development. And these roads are made for everyone, not only for officials.