When the going gets tough: officials are to blame for the deaths of children in an accident

As already reported by the media, the Tverskoy Court of Moscow arrested Valeria Bashkirova, accused of an accident that resulted in the death of two children. It is also reported that the girl burst into tears in the courtroom.

Initially, a criminal case was initiated against her on violation of traffic rules, resulting in the death of a person by negligence. The maximum punishment is five years in prison. Nikulinsky District Court sent the girl under house arrest. But then the charge was re-qualified for a traffic violation, which inadvertently resulted in the death of two or more persons. Under this part of the article, he can face up to seven years in prison.

The prosecutor's office demanded to toughen the charges and change the preventive measure after the second child of the three victims died in the hospital.

An accident on Aviatorov Street in Moscow occurred on July 16. According to the traffic police, adults with children of five and four years old, as well as a nine-month-old baby in a stroller, crossed the road along an unregulated pedestrian crossing. They were hit by a Mazda driven by Bashkirova. The main blow fell on children. Two boys died in the hospital.

This incident caused a loud resonance in the media and social networks. Moreover, many bloggers and journalists agree that a fair share of the blame for this crime lies with Moscow officials, who, according to the old Russian tradition, ignore the elementary demands of citizens about security measures. For example, civic activist Petr Shkumatov writes about this:

“According to media reports, local residents have been asking for several years from officials, local and not so, to install a speed bump at a dangerous unregulated pedestrian crossing. I don’t know what they were told, probably something like “we put your request in the plan for 2035”. But, several hours after the terrible tragedy, when two children could not be returned, it turned out that nothing needed to be redesigned, coordinated, it was enough just to send a team of workers with a speed bump for 10 thousand rubles. And install.

But children cannot be returned from the other world, and the girl who knocked them down is also in a state close to the extreme degree of hysteria. Her life is also broken, although it has just begun. A question to our beloved Maxim Stanislavovich (Deputy Mayor of Moscow Liksutov - editor's note): don't you feel at least a share of guilt for all this? How about garlic? Your subordinates, you and we know their surnames, have you promoted all these years? Or not yours? Although, what am I asking..."

In their comments, readers fully supported the author:

- But we change again good asphalt for very good. The whole city is rummaged through again to hell. Why do they dig every year, what kind of treasure are they looking for there ?? What a million at a traffic light - Moscow buries trillions every year.

- I have two such intersections in the area. The villainous officials have been answering with formal replies for several years. And people fight every month.

- City services should definitely bear some of the responsibility for what happened. Someone should be deprived of public office and the right to hold it for life. Someone should incur criminal punishment, especially if there were requests to establish a "lying" person and they were ignored, and if the official with his brain is not able to understand such a need. The city must pay moral damages to the family of the deceased children. There is no such amount, but there should be compensation. Border and tile-eaters can interrupt without a couple of government orders in favor of the family of the victims...

- When on Baumanskaya they were engaged in improving the streets and expanding the sidewalks at the expense of the carriageway, one of my personal requirements was to put a traffic light on an unregulated crossing. Do you think you did it? Not. So you have to go straight through the stream of people, because it is endless.

- Exactly for the centenary of the Revolution, a man was brought down on our collective farm. He walked drunk along the side of the road. At some point, he swayed and he came to the hood of the car with the base of his skull. He ended his life a few minutes later. I saw it myself, I was driving 50 meters behind. And after three to five days, there were road signs "be careful, pedestrians", lighting and a yellow blinking beacon near the zebra next to the bus stop a hundred meters from the site of the tragedy. This is how Russia is arranged: to scan public opinion, the authorities can introduce and roll back an unpopular measure, but it is not able to prevent a person's life from being prevented. I started reading Saltykov-Shchedrin. Nothing changes: a tyrant lady, girls and slaves.

- Installation of speed bumps administered by prefectural commissions. I have been trying to install on the street for 10 years. Krasin where there are 2 schools and a kindergarten - fig. But they installed at the house where Bastrykin and Manturov live on B. Tishinsky, 10.

- In Kommunarka on the central street it was the same, one to one. Until the kid was shot down to death. Then they put a traffic light at this place and the pedestrian crossing became regulated. Why does no one raise the question of the specific punishment of specific officials for inaction? Why does no one here help the parents of dead children find justice and punish specific people in the administrations who did not take specific actions in time? Why is everyone here just expressing concern? Do I support your concerns with my likes, or do I still give you carte blanche for specific actions? Or is it all a sham for the emergence of more irresponsible persons in charge instead of the current more irresponsible?