Penza, 25 March 2013. PenzaNews. The minibus driver, who drove two students who later tragically died under the wheels of a passenger bus, is to blame for the tragic accident, rather than the girls and the driver of the passenger bus, who actually hit the pedestrians. This opinion was expressed by the head of the traffic police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Penza region Sergey Buylov during an emergency meeting held on Monday, March 25.

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“Why are the passengers allowed to get on and off the bus in any place even not properly equipped for this?” Sergey Buylov asked.

“There are special stops-at-request which are agreed with the department of transport and communications of Penza, and included in the route-map of the bus. He [the minibus driver] pulled up on the side of the road ensuring that there was no interference with other transport,” commented the deputy director general on road safety LLC “Dilizhans” Andrei Kaynov.

In turn, the head of the traffic police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Penza region emphasized that only specially designed bus stops are safe.

He added that the department intends to initiate an unscheduled check of LLC “Dilizhans” bases on the results of which further actions will be taken.

“We shall invite the representatives of the department of traffic police, all the passenger carrying companies, the media, and the prosecutor’s office to the authorities address with a legislative initiative to put a ban on a stop-at-request,” Sergey Buylov announced.

At the end of the meeting the head of the traffic police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Penza region informed that a criminal case was filed on the accident, the investigation of which will determine the fault of each of the participants of the accident.

As news agency PenzaNews reported earlier, the girls, born 1992 and 1995, who died under the wheels of the bus in Penza on Sunday, March 24, were crossing the roadway outside the crosswalk.

It was found that at 17:30 the bus driver hit two girls who appeared from behind the minibus which stopped at the oncoming traffic lane, and started moving across the road from left to right outside the crosswalk. As a result of the accident the pedestrians died on the spot from the injuries.

At present the accident is under investigation based on which further action will be taken.