During the discussion in State Duma committees of a bill on a sharp increase in fines for driving while intoxicated, some deputies and experts proposed repealing the Prohibition Law for drivers and returning the non-zero minimum permitted ppm value as a criterion for the state of intoxication of a motorist. The head of Rospotrebnadzor, Gennady Onishchenko, said that the return of the minimum ppm “will aggravate the chaos that we are seeing today, when the part of people who drinks demonstrates superiority on the roads.” However, representatives of the LDPR in the State Duma advocated establishing a norm of 0.3 ppm in the new law, and the former head of the State Traffic Inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, member of the Federation Council Vladimir Fedorov noted that “our international obligations allow us to establish a norm of no more than 0.5 ppm.” In turn, the head of the State Duma Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building, Vladimir Pligin, promised: “We will definitely make this bill balanced.”

Viktor Pokhmelkin, Chairman of the Russian Motorists Movement:

- Certainly. It is necessary to return to the norm of 0.3 ppm, or 0.15 mg per liter in exhaled air. At the same time, in my opinion, in order to prevent the number of drunken accidents from increasing, it is necessary to prevent even the slightest consumption of alcohol by a person who is about to get behind the wheel. To do this, the decisive criterion for determining the driver’s condition should not be a traffic police officer, but a medical examination. It should be carried out not only with the help of a breathalyzer, but also through a comprehensive check. Unfortunately, in our country the examination is often carried out formally and doctors repeat the same manipulations as traffic cops. A full independent medical examination will make it possible to separate people with endogenous, natural alcohol in their blood from people who drink and drive. And people who drink alcohol while driving will bear the responsibility they deserve.

Alexey Rodzianko, President of the Moscow Polo Club:

“I don’t think so, I’m inclined to tighten the punishment.” We need to fight against drunks, but I’m afraid that the laws that are being created are not scary for anyone.

Andrey Krainy, head of Rosrybolovstvo:

“We definitely need to return the 0.5 ppm threshold, given how harsh the penalties have become.” After all, everyone has different characteristics of the body, someone can be absolutely sober, but the device will still show 0.2. This shouldn’t happen, there’s no need to ruin people’s lives! Kefir and kvass will also add a couple of tenths to the indicator, so I consider 0.5 to be the optimal figure. Everything above confirms alcohol intoxication, everything below is not dangerous. And given the state of our traffic police, you should generally beware of zero. It costs nothing to tweak the device and then extort money from honest drivers.

Would you return the ppm?