Roads of Belarus will be estimated by stars

An independent institute of road safety auditors will be established in Belarus. And all roads in the country, including the main ones, will be examined under the International Road Assessment Programme (IRAP). This is a certain system which will define both the safest roads and those where quality needs improving. In the next decade, the country will also have a national programme for the development of electric transport, which is currently undergoing various approvals. This, as well as further development of roads and cars, was discussed by specialists.

A safety indicator is 56 deaths per million. But the fewer, the better

Creating comfortable and safe roads is a priority for the country’s road industry. Belarus is implementing the Road Safety Concept and has already achieved high performance in this area. 56 people per million inhabitants have died on the roads, although it is necessary to strive for zero mortality, experts say. — As part of the M-3 road and bridge reconstruction project, for example, we are working with consultants who help us develop a road safety strategy. In cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, we will continue the reconstruction of other highways going out of the capital, — said Sergey Leonchik, Head of the Road Administration of the Main Road Administration of the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

The driver assistance system — ADAS, i.e. modern electronic devices used now in all cars and buses, also helps to improve road safety. Some of these systems already have mandatory status. In particular, the exchange rate stability system for cars has been added as mandatory to ABS, i.e. anti-lock braking system, since this year. For passenger cars it has already been in operation, and now it should appear on road freight vehicles, said Pavel Shabanov, Chief Designer for Automobile Equipment of Minsk Automobile Plant of the Holding Company BelavtoMAZ: — Optional in our country but mandatory in Europe the emergency braking function should also start working. A camera — such an artificial vision element — is installed on the car, it detects elements of the road surface, which allows the car to move without the driver’s participation, if this mode is set. It is also possible to see objects approaching the car, both people and things. This way, even the driver’s carelessness will not cause an accident.

Safety measures in the use of equipment produced at the Minsk Tractor Plant (MTZ) are of specific character. They mainly concern overturning and damage caused by some objects during its work and are much less related to speed, as it does not exceed 40 km/h in transport mode and 12 km/h in working mode. There is also a communal road maintenance facility for cleaning and mowing, and a construction facility for building roads and bridges. — The capacity of this equipment today, depending on the required scope of work is from 30 horsepower for local technological roads to 130–150 for large highways,— said Alexey Lyubchevsky, Deputy Director of the branch Trade House BELARUS of MTZ JSC.— It is more like an energy tool that at a certain time and place can provide the necessary amount of energy: hydraulic, mechanical or electrical. At the same time we closely cooperate with road services and offer basic chassis for attaching on them special equipment, which is not produced at MTZ. And we are also ready to create customized equipment, including the one for import substitution.

Electric cars: MAZ-303, 12-ton and Geometry A

Ecology is also one of the safety issues. It is necessary to reduce CO2 emissions produced by cars. The country already has the Euro 5 eco-standard for motor vehicles. However, the time is not far off when we start moving towards reducing emissions to zero, said the chief designer of MAZ:

— This is an electrically driven vehicle that has no systems connected with an internal combustion engine. These types of transport will soon be wide-spread in our country. This trend was set by the countries where the eco-situation was critical, i.e. China and India. Since the start of the state program of transport development and its replacement by ecological one, they have achieved stunning results in more than ten years. For the last three years, China has been producing 90.000–100.000 electric

K u SHCH atoly Kle aN buses. And there are 10.000–15.000 electric buses running in major Chinese cities. By comparison, there are currently 500 electric buses in Moscow. And the trends in the development of electric transport continue.

In Belarus, for several years now Belkommunmash has also been producing electric buses that are powered by the trolleybus network and run along the streets of the capital. And MAZ is testing two prototypes of electrically powered vehicles created last year. These are the MAZ-303, a 12 metre city electric bus and a delivery vehicle up to 12 tons. — This is quite a new thing. And if we talk about safety, we cannot but say that the existence of an electric drive means that there is high voltage (about 600 volts) on board the vehicle. Accordingly, for mass production we are obliged to present fully tested equipment that is safe for passengers, — said Pavel Shabanov.

At BelGee, in turn, the electric car Geely Geometry A is being tested. Specialists say that this sedan has already shown its characteristics. Depending on the battery used in the car, the car covers its declared 400 and 500 kilometres. Now they plan to test it in winter conditions, as well as to consider how to ensure its operation in Belarus and to monitor the readiness of power stations to service electric cars.

In addition, this year the BelGee company has mastered the full technological cycle of manufacturing a Geely Coolray car, which has already been loved by Russian and Belarusian consumers. More and more of this model will appear on the streets, said Vitaly Bylitsky, chief technologist at BelGee: — We have handed over a pilot batch of two new models to our dealers, i.e. Geely Tugella, a premium crossover, which today has maximum safety and comfort options, and hatchback Geely GS, a more budget choice.

The MTZ is also working on environmental safety. At the same time, more stringent standards are used for the equipment produced there than for ordinary cars. This is explained by the fact that the plant’s products are mainly used in agriculture — in the fields (and this is food), or its machinery works in the areas where nothing has yet been created (and this is nature and the impact on nature must be minimized). — In our engines, we also actively use electronic fuel injection control systems, which is both economical and environmentally friendly. As well as a complex system of catalytic converters, catalysts, which reduce CO2 and nitrogen oxides emissions to the minimum possible levels today,— said a representative of MTZ.— As for alternative fuels, our equipment also has specifics. We electrify tractors using diesel generator sets rather than traction batteries. They show, on the one hand, more ecological classes and, on the other hand, more economical use of our equipment. By Irina Sidarok