Categories
Journalistic Survey
Articles
Reportage
Analitic
Photo Reportage
Exclusive
Interview
Foreign Media about Georgia
Editorial
Position
Reader's opinion
Blog
Themes
Children's Rights
Women's Rights
Justice
Refugees/IDPs
Minorities
Media
Army
Health
Corruption
Elections
Education
Penitentiary
Religion
Others

Davit Meskhishvili: “Do Not Travel to and from Kakheti via Gombori Pass”

July 20, 2018
 
Reginfo.ge

“If you have least trust to me, do not travel to and from Kakheti via Gombori Pass,” the chairperson of the nongovernmental organization Georgian Transport and Road Association Davit Meskhishvili wrote. According to his statement, buses and trucks must be prohibited to travel via Vaziani-Gombori-Telavi pass. 

“Mostly, people have one key argument - it is a short way. In fact, you need more fuel and even more time because of frequent rises and slopes on that road. As for safety: 1. narrow, sinuous roads, where not everybody can correctly drive into the turning. It may be caused by technical problems of the car or lack of experience of the driver; 2. Brakes get hot down the slope and suddenly you may encounter a car, whose brakes do not work at all (driver need to know how to use them); 3. Often trucks move very slowly (why trucks move there at all?!) and others try to outdrive them. So, you may crash into a car driving from the opposite direction; 4. Several times, landslide and torrent completely destroyed some parts of the Gombori Road; 5. More than 40 persons were injured and 4 persons died on the Gombori road in one month; among them was a child. If we review the statistics of several years, the results will be astonishing. Indeed, there is something wrong with the infrastructure. 

If I had the right, I would have locked the Gombori pass for some time; I would have examined it substantially; would have arranged protecting dykes and safety mirrors on the road; I would have installed cameras in the areas where cars most frequently outdrive each other. I would have established highest standards of security and only afterwards I would have opened it for drivers.

After opening, I would have banned the trucks and busses to travel there. I would have fixed some limitations for mini-buses. As I do not have the right and nothing is changing here, I am urging you – please do not travel via that road. Use the Kakheti highway,” Davit Meskhishvili wrote.

On the Vaziani-Gombori-Telavi Road, one person died and three persons were injured in the car-accident on July 13. On July 1, a bus of tourists turned over near the Tetritsklebi village and 25 persons were injured. On June 9, a mini-bus with school-children going to the excursion fell into the ravine near the Tetritsklebi village and four persons, including one child, died and 21 were injured. On February 17, a fuel truck turned over on the same road and burnt down. 


News