The President nullifies the Code of Administrative Offenses

Dmitry Medvedev wants to abolish alcohol limits for drivers

President Dmitry Medvedev introduced a bill to the State Duma prohibiting driving with any level of alcohol in the blood. The head of state has fulfilled the promise he made at the end of last year - after parliament approves the presidential amendments, the criterion by which traffic police inspectors now determine the degree of intoxication of a detained driver should disappear from the legislation. We are talking about the maximum permissible amount of alcohol in the blood and the percentage of alcohol in exhaled air. Meanwhile, the community of car owners, after a series of high-profile scandals, is waiting for the president to take steps, if not to reform the traffic police, then at least to update traffic police personnel.

As the Kremlin press service reported on Saturday, the bill, submitted by the president for consideration by deputies, contains amendments to two fundamental legal acts relating to the behavior of drivers on the road: the law “On Road Safety” and the “automobile” section of the Code of Administrative Offenses. In the law on road traffic safety, Mr. Medvedev intends to include a separate line prohibiting the operation of a vehicle by a driver “in a state of alcoholic, narcotic or other toxic intoxication,” although traffic police inspectors, even without this special instruction, guided by other provisions of the law and the Administrative Code, exclude drunk people from participating in traffic. “A note is excluded from Article 27.12 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, which allows for the possibility of driving a vehicle if there is absolute ethyl alcohol in the human body in a concentration of up to 0.3 grams per liter of blood or up to 0.15 milligrams per liter of exhaled air,” explained the essence of the second amendments in the presidential press service.

In principle, the norm on ppm, which should now disappear from the legislation, also appeared during the presidency of Dmitry Medvedev - the corresponding amendment to the Code of Administrative Offenses came into force on July 1, 2008. The permissible amount of alcohol that can be consumed without fear of being fined was determined with an eye to enlightened Europe. EU law sets the limit at 0.5 ppm, and in England, Ireland, Italy and Switzerland, traffic police do not have the right to detain a driver if he has less than 0.8 ppm of alcohol in his blood. Let us note that “absolute sobriety” - a zero level of alcohol in the blood cannot be achieved with all the desire: a certain error is introduced by endogenous ethanol, the level of which in different people can range from 0.008 to 0.4 ppm. Domestic forensic experts are guided by the guidelines adopted by the Soviet Ministry of Health in 1967: if the alcohol content in 1 liter of the deceased’s blood does not exceed 0.5 ppm, then it is considered that the person was sober the day before. In 2003, the same permissible standard - 0.5 ppm per liter of blood - was established by order of the Ministry of Health concerning road users who were taken to the hospital after an accident in an unconscious state and for whom the usual procedures for determining the degree of intoxication cannot be carried out.

While the current norm of the Code of Administrative Offenses gives traffic police officers a criterion for which driver should be considered drunk - the level of alcohol content (the same ppm) can be determined using a breathalyzer. Over the past year, the management of the traffic police has repeatedly reported a decrease in the number of accidents caused by drunk motorists. Thus, at the beginning of December 2009, the head of the traffic police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Viktor Kiryanov, noted with satisfaction that the number of “drunk” accidents had decreased by 40% since the beginning of the implementation of new administrative legislation.

There is a suspicion that many traffic inspectors will be happy to take advantage of the new presidential initiative, for whom, if the amendments are adopted, new opportunities for abuse will open up, since the legislation allows traffic police patrols in some cases to dispense with a doctor’s opinion when making a diagnosis. The Federation of Car Owners of Russia (FAR) fears that the abolition of the article on the maximum permissible dose of alcohol will not lead to a reduction in accidents on the roads, but, on the contrary, will play into the hands of corrupt inspectors. According to the head of the Moscow branch of the FAR, Sergei Kanaev, traffic police officers will have reason to stop and consider drunk even those who drank Corvalol before getting behind the wheel: the medicine contains alcohol, therefore, a breathalyzer will show its content in the blood. “This law will hit ordinary citizens first,” Mr. Kanaev told Interfax. -- Practice shows that most often representatives of the so-called “untouchable caste” get behind the wheel drunk. These are the same law enforcement officers and officials at various levels.” It is certainly necessary to combat drunkenness on the roads, the head of the Moscow branch of the FAR emphasizes, but the authorities should start with reforming the traffic police themselves and eradicating corruption in this structure. The situation will not change as long as the people in charge of the traffic police feel impunity, Mr. Kanaev is sure.

Vice-president of the Russian Motorists Movement (DAR), lawyer Leonid Olshansky, declaring support for the presidential initiative, emphasizes that the abolition of “per mille limits” is clearly not enough. Mr. Olshansky reminds that traffic police officers still have the right to conduct a primary medical examination of detained drivers. This right, according to the lawyer, is corruptive. “If we manage to secure a ban on examination by traffic police inspectors, this will be a reliable anti-corruption measure that will not allow them to manipulate the breathalyzer readings and extort a bribe under this pretext,” said the DAR vice-president. In addition, Mr. Olshansky emphasizes, the inspector is not able to competently and impartially state the degree of alcohol intoxication of a person - this can only be done by a doctor and only in a hospital, “during a comprehensive examination of the person: examination of blood, urine, exhaled air, visual, speech and psychological reactions." A professional physician will never diagnose “intoxication” to a person who has taken twenty drops of the same “Corvalol,” notes Leonid Olshansky.

Mikhail MOSHKIN