Bukhara driver penalized for prioritizing pedestrian and not yielding to official motorcade

The incident, captured on video, has sparked widespread debate on social media in Uzbekistan.

On June 20, a Kia K5 driver in Bukhara stopped at Dilkusho Street, activating hazard lights to allow a pedestrian to cross at a marked pedestrian crossing. This caused the motorcade, under the surveillance of the traffic police, following behind him, to stop as well.

Footage from a street surveillance camera shows the motorcade – consisting of five vehicles, including two traffic police patrol cars at the front and back, two crossover SUVs (Captiva), and one Mercedes-Benz – approaching with sirens. Of these, three vehicles passed through the pedestrian crossing without stopping.

In the video, the driver of one of the Captiva SUVs is seen honking, attempting to force the civilian car ahead to move, despite the presence of an elderly pedestrian in front of them. The pedestrian, startled by the noise, turned back and didn’t cross. The Captiva then drove over the solid line at the pedestrian crossing and continued on a different traffic lane.

Following this, traffic officers stopped the Kia K5 driver – who had yielded to the pedestrian – and issued a citation. The vehicle was taken to the impound lot.

“Later, other traffic officers arrived and stopped us, saying they were going to issue a fine. I tried to explain the situation, but one of the officers said: ‘This is an order from higher-ups. I can’t do anything about it.’ What were we supposed to do? Run over the pedestrian in front of us?” said one of the passengers in the Kia K5 during an interview with Kun.uz.

The driver was fined under Article 128-5, Part 2 of the Administrative Offenses Code and issued a penalty amounting to ten times the base calculation unit (BCU), totaling 3,750,000 UZS.

In the official report prepared by Major Rustam Ochilov, Senior Inspector of the Bukhara Regional Road Safety Department, it was stated that the driver had “entered the traffic lane in violation of road regulations.” However, this alleged violation is not evident in the publicly circulated video.

The driver, believing the fine to be unfair, paid 50% of the penalty to retrieve his car from the impound lot while continuing to dispute the citation.

What do officials say?

A Kun.uz reporter contacted the Bukhara Regional Department of Road Traffic Safety. According to the department’s press secretary, Ulugbek Shukrullaev, the motorcade was escorting a protected individual under the jurisdiction of the State Security Service of the President.

Shukrullaev stated that the Kia K5 driver had failed to yield to the special service vehicle from a considerable distance before reaching the pedestrian crossing, and that was the actual reason for the fine.

“The Kia K5 driver neither reacted nor yielded for about 200–300 meters despite hearing and seeing the motorcade, and ignored multiple warnings. On social media, people are interpreting the situation based only on the footage from the bus stop camera, which does not show the entire context.

In fact, drivers are required to yield to emergency and special service vehicles. Pedestrians, according to Clause 21 of the Road Traffic Rules, must not enter or should quickly leave the crossing when such vehicles are approaching. If the Kia K5 driver had moved aside earlier, this situation would not have happened, and the pedestrian would have waited,” said Shukrullaev.

He added that the motorcade escorting a protected individual cannot stop, as halting could be interpreted as a security threat.

“Therefore, the administrative report was not filed because the driver stopped for a pedestrian, but because he had failed to yield to the motorcade earlier. We have no objection to him yielding to the pedestrian, and that was precisely why the motorcade stopped,” he added.

After the video began circulating online, the Kia K5 driver said he was summoned to the Bukhara Regional Road Safety Department for further inquiry. He has since submitted an appeal to the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Road Traffic Safety Service, requesting a legal review of the incident, annulment of the fine, and disciplinary action against officials who engaged in “unlawful conduct.”