On February 24, 2017, the Public Defender of Georgia held another public debate on: “Traffic Deaths and Road Safety Problems in Georgia”.

The debate, held at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, was moderated by Gela Kvashilava, the UN expert on road safety issues of the Partnership for Road Safety Foundation.

In his opening speech the Public Defender spoke about the annual increase in the number of road accidents, as well as in the number of casualties. The Public Defender considers that the state should work on the development of road infrastructure and must apply strict measures to maximize road safety. Accidents can be reduced by reasonable efforts of the state, right information campaign and strict police monitoring of the traffic rules, the focus of which should be equality of all drivers before the law.

Valeri Lomuashvili, the Director of the Research and Development Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, spoke about the planned legislative changes, the recent years’ statistics on deaths and injuries caused by road accidents and the number of fines.

Ekaterine Laliashviil, the Chairman of the Board of the Georgian Alliance for Safe Roads, presented analysis and evaluation of the problem of road safety. She also spoke about the steps to be taken for raising safety and effectiveness of sanctions, as well as the fine systems of various countries.

Nodar Tangiashvili, the public policy adviser of the NGO East-West Management Institute (EWMI), spoke about the road safety as a human right, the national and international norms, and the obligations of the state. He presented a brief analytical survey about the causes and results of road accidents, as well as the relevant statistics.

The public debates of the Public Defender, funded by the EU project “Support to the Public Defender II”, are systematically held on various important topics and give representatives of the society, governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations the opportunity to discuss important issues.