Azernews.Az

By Seymur Aliyev

The Azerbajani customs body has imposed a ban for the import of Russian-made cars from October 1 over safety concerns.

Aydin Aliyev, chairman of the State Customs Committee, said the decision to ban the delivery of VAZ 21144 and VAZ 21154 vehicles was due to the fact that they have no anti-lock braking system (ABS) or airbags.

According to the new regulations, effective from May 1, ABS system and at least one airbag should be available in both imported and domestically manufactured vehicles, except all-wheel drive cars.

Earlier, a ban was imposed from May 1 on the imports of other Russian car brands -- VAZ 2107, VAZ 2114 and VAZ 2115.

Despite the ban, until October 1 the import of the mentioned cars continued under the agreements concluded under state guarantee, which had been in effect until that date.

According to the country's statistics committee, the number of cars in Azerbaijan totaled 832,599 in 2011. In the first eight months of 2012 the figure increased by 73,000.

Banning the Russian-made cars is seen as a key step in reducing fatal road accidents in the country and is expected to save many lives.

705 people were killed and 2,028 others injured in 1,863 traffic accidents in Azerbaijan in January-August 2012, the traffic police said.

According to Kamran Aliyev, an official of the Main State Traffic Police Department, the ban on using obsolete cars will help to prevent the increase in traffic accidents.

Such vehicles, especially those made by AvtoVAZ, a Russian manufacturer, cannot be regarded as incapacitated from the technical point of view, but are unable to stand a blow in traffic accidents, which makes fatal cases inevitable, Aliyev said.