Monday10 February 2025
toshkent24.com

The head of the Ministry of Transport discusses the mass accident on the "Astana-Borovoe" highway, where vehicles were overtaking each other.

At a briefing held in the government cabinet, Marat Karabaev, the Minister of Transport, explained the reasons behind the mass accident that occurred on the "Astana-Borovoe" highway in early January, as reported by a Bizmedia.kz correspondent.
Министр транспорта прокомментировал массовую аварию на трассе «Астана-Боровое», отметив, что водители обгоняли друг друга.

“I believe the Ministry of Internal Affairs will provide an answer regarding the reasons, but generally, I want to explain the situation from the perspective that… if you recall, about four years ago, when roads were closed, it was done during the day. The road was closed, and no one would leave. However, in the last four years, the so-called escort practice has been widely adopted, which was not present before,” said journalist Marat Karabaev.

According to him, currently, during a strong snowstorm, if there is a significant accumulation of vehicles, a decision is made to provide an escort.

“Ahead, the ‘KazAvtoZhol’ machinery clears the road. Following that is a patrol vehicle. Before departing, everyone is informed that the average speed will be 40-50 km/h. On the road to Borovoe, there are two specific spots with a sharp reduction in visibility. In that situation, according to preliminary information from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there was a case where the average speed in one convoy, which had 300 vehicles, saw some individuals attempting to overtake each other at an average speed of 30-40-50 km/h. This triggered a chain reaction, as the convoy was moving, and it led to the situation we have now,” summarized the Minister of Transport.