UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 28, 2016. 159 people were killed in road accidents in Sverdlovsk Region this winter, head of the local road police department Yuri Demin announced at an off-site Cabinet meeting in Kamyshlov.

Demin said 1,054 accidents occurred in the Mid-Urals over the given period, with 1,387 casualties all in all.

The official believes the poor condition of local roads was the main reason for so many accidents this winter. He feels the municipal and constituency road maintenance services are at fault.

Local officials actually admitted last year that they did not manage to invest all the money allocated from the road maintenance fund in 2015. Sverdlovsk Region Finance Ministry reports only 50% of the fund money for the year had been spent by November 2015.