Penza, 14 May 2013. PenzaNews. The driver of Volkswagen minibus, who is presumably responsible for the tragic accident with ten victims, which occurred in the Penza region on Tuesday, May 14, committed 120 traffic violations, mostly related to non-compliance with speed limits since 2000. This was stated by the head of the regional department of traffic police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Buylov during a press conference held at the main office of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia in the region.

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Sergey Buylov added that the driver of the minibus Ruslan Nikolaev probably did not keep work and rest schedule.

He especially stressed the fact that Volkswagen, having 13 seats, carried 19 passengers.

As news agency PenzaNews reported earlier, according to preliminary information, the tragic accident occurred on the road Penza — Tambov on Tuesday morning, May 14.

Presumably, the driver of Volkswagen minibus was on the way from Sochi to Chuvashia carrying workers, when he fell asleep, drove onto the oncoming traffic lane, where he collided with a truck from Mordovia. The third vehicle, which suffered in the accident, was Chevrolet Lacetti following Freightliner truck.

It is established that at the time of the accident, the minibus, which had 13 seats, was transporting 19 passengers.
As a result of the accident, ten people died on the spot and nine victims were hospitalized to Penza city emergency hospital named after G. Zakharyin.

Chevrolet Lacetti had a dashboard camera, the video recording of which is expected to help reconstruct what had happened.

According to the Federal Road Agency, no conditions which could promote the accident, were identified on the road. Rough surface treatment has recently been carried out — friction coefficient and markings comply with the standards.