Road transport has become an integral part of our life, regardless of whether you live in a metropolis or provincial town. Not surprisingly, every car owner or person whose work is associated with this mode of transport annually celebrates Motorist Day, despite the fact that by definition this holiday is considered to be exclusively professional.
Today it seems that the motorist's holiday has been from time immemorial, but it's worth going into history, and it turns out that such a date appeared just over 30 years ago. And yet, even in such a relatively short time, a lot of controversy arose on the topic of when to celebrate and what official name this holiday has.
Motorist Day: The History of the Holiday
The first mention of Motorist Day appeared more than 30 years ago. In Soviet times it was a festive date for all road transport workers. It is worth noting that the reason for the celebration was not only the drivers, but all employees who had a direct relationship to the road.
The legislature of the USSR issued a decree in which it was fixed that from this moment (October 1, 1980) the last Sunday in October is a professional holiday of all drivers, which was named Motorist's Day. People celebrated the holiday in a simple way - "Driver's Day". That is why at the moment there is a lot of controversy about how to correctly call the Day of a motorist.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, many republics have postponed those or other festive dates, others have completely abandoned Soviet holidays. The motorist's day was not an exception either. The official holiday is celebrated today in a few former republics of the USSR, among them: the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Belarus.
As to the date of the "Driver's Day" holiday, it should be noted that only in the three countries mentioned above the date of the celebration has not changed. At the same time, there is some difference in celebrating the Motorist Day in Russia from the same holiday in Ukraine and Belarus.
Celebrating Motorist Day in Russia
Many will agree that motorists and road maintenance workers are two completely different categories. In addition, representatives of the second industry in some cases and have nothing to do with driving. In order to prevent the emergence of any disputes, the Russian government considered it expedient to create two absolutely different, but equally valid holidays.
Professional holiday "Driver's Day" in Ukraine , Belarus and the Russian Federation, as before, is celebrated on the last Sunday of October. There is only one difference - in the first two post-Soviet countries this holiday is combined with the "Road Day". While President Vladimir Putin of Russia in the decree "On the Day of Road Workers," issued March 23, 2000,
Today, the driver's holiday has practically lost its original meaning, becoming a festive date for everyone who owns a car. But it is always worth remembering that Motorist Day is not just another professional holiday, but a tribute to all workers of this industry, without whose work life in the modern world would be impossible.
It should be noted that Motorists Day is now entitled to mark those who were driving at the time of the Great Patriotic War, supplying ammunition, forwarding wounded soldiers from the front line, taking women and children from the occupied cities.