What happens when a territory secedes

“Drivers in Abkhazia won't have to buckle-up so often in future, as officials have decided current seatbelt laws are too strict, it's reported.

“Anyone driving within city limits in the breakaway Georgian republic will now be allowed to travel without being strapped in, Abkhazia's official news agency Apsny reports. Previously that would have led to a hefty fine, but the region's interior minister says the current seatbelt rules are difficult to enforce in practice.

"’Adults are capable of driving a few streets from home to work without buckling up,’ Leonid Dzapshba says. ‘People should always come first - let's not conduct experiments on our own people.’ Mr Dzapshba adds that with speed limits set between 40 and 60km/h (25 to 37mph) in cities, he believes safety ‘will not be affected’ by the rule change. That's not a view shared by traffic experts around the world, who agree that not wearing a seatbelt doubles your chance of serious injury or death in an accident. The seatbelt law is still in force for major highways with faster speed limits.

"Statistics on road safety in Abkhazia are hard to come by, but according to one EU-funded news website the republic has one of the highest rates of road fatalities in the Caucasus region."

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-34541772


Abkhazia broke away from the Republic of Georgia and declared itself an independent state with the demise of the Soviet Union. The new state and Georgia warred in 1992-93. Georgia lost. The Republic of Abkhazia is recognized by Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru, South Ossetia, Transnistria and Nagorno-Karabakh. (Nauru used to be called “Pleasant Island.” The South Pacific island is now known as a tax haven and illegal money-laundering center.)

Georgia considers Abkhazia under Russian occupation.

It all sounds so not-21st century – Russian occupied territory and other countries not recognized by international organizations. But, when it comes to independence, people haven’t changed all that much over the centuries.