The railway is not a place for games

Placing foreign objects on the tracks, throwing stones at trains, and damaging signaling and communication devices. These unlawful acts have topped the list of the most common violations of traffic safety in railway transport committed by children in the Vitebsk region.

Their presence on the railway is partly due to games, amusements, and unorganized leisure. In such situations, according to Elena Yanchilenko, Assistant to the Vitebsk Transport Prosecutor, minors not only endanger themselves but also complicate transport operations, threaten train traffic safety, the lives and health of passengers, the safety of transported goods, and cause considerable material damage to the railway. Any interference with the operation of railway transport is prosecuted by law, warns the prosecutor's representative.

Often, parents are held responsible for the unlawful acts of children, against whom, as a rule, an administrative protocol is drawn up for failure to fulfill their parental duties. This is what happened with the mischief of minors who placed foreign objects on the railway tracks of Shumilino station. However, teenagers who intentionally damaged warning signs, railway traffic lights, posts, fences, and other property belonging to the housing and communal services of the Sharkovshchyna district and the Vitebsk branch of Belarusian Railways have been brought to criminal responsibility. The children caused material damage amounting to over 6.5 million rubles (before denomination).

In addition, this year, the Vitebsk Department of Internal Affairs on Transport has held 22 minors accountable for drinking alcoholic, low-alcohol beverages, or beer in a public place, and appearing there intoxicated. Boys and girls who cross the tracks in an unauthorized place, trying to save time and shorten the distance, expose themselves to great danger. For 6 months of the current year, administrative protocols have been drawn up against 63 minors.

In order to prevent offenses and crimes, prevent child injuries and deaths on the railway, the Vitebsk Transport Prosecutor's Office, together with the IDN of the Vitebsk Department of Internal Affairs for Transport, and the BRSM of the Vitebsk branch of Belarusian Railway, are conducting preventive campaigns. Such events, Elena Vladimirovna is confident, will help save more than one child's life and once again remind: the railway is a zone of increased danger.

Olga BULAVKA, "Vitebskiye Vesti".