How much will a driver's license cost now?

Most driving schools in the country have suspended the admission of students: they are preparing for re-certification, which half will not pass. In driving schools that have passed inspections, prices are expected to more than double, to 80-90 thousand rubles. And most likely, corruption will move here from the traffic police when obtaining a license.

Training in driving schools will become so long that teachers are confident that few will complete the entire program
Photo: Dmitry Korotaev, Kommersant / buy photo

NINA VAZHDAEVA

There is uncertainty and slight panic in driving schools across the country. They are trying to bring their technical base and educational plans in line with the new requirements. The reform of driving schools has been going on since 2011; in 2013, new categories of driving licenses appeared (for example, for moped owners). But this year has brought the most serious changes. On August 12, new requirements for driving schools came into force, and last week Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree “On admission to driving vehicles,” changing the principle of taking exams. The next step should be administrative regulations for their implementation. It is proposed to tighten the testing procedure: when passing the theory, future drivers will answer five additional questions for each mistake made (currently only two mistakes are allowed, and no questions are asked at all). Dmitry Medvedev has already instructed the Ministry of Internal Affairs to prepare new regulations within the next four months.

“You see what’s going on now: we’ve been waiting for a month for them to check the material and technical base,” they told the Dengi correspondent at the Leader training center, where I called under the guise of a potential student. “Come back at the end of November.” In a month they hope to begin accepting students at the Leader Victoria driving school. “Be careful. Choose only a driving school that has already agreed on programs with the traffic police. Otherwise there are a lot of scammers,” the Leader Victoria school carefully warned. The driving school employee’s fears are justified: some driving schools continue to operate, although they have not undergone the recertification procedure. For example, a scandal recently erupted in Saratov, where several schools continued to enroll students without a license. At the end of October, the ABC school in Tambov was closed, which also did not have the right to conduct educational activities.

Finding a school with consistent programs has proven difficult. A separate resource has even appeared on the official website of the traffic police, which contains a list of such driving schools. In Moscow there are only 10 of them out of 350; in St. Petersburg there are none at all yet. Where students are being accepted, prices are not at all encouraging. For example, at the Start driving school, training for category B costs 48 thousand rubles: 16 thousand for theory and 32 thousand for practice. Price increases are also expected at Leader - approximately the entire course will cost 38-40 thousand. Prices at Leader Victoria are also promised to be around 40 thousand. “This is almost twice as high as the Moscow average before August 12, that is, before the new requirements for driving schools came into force,” says Sergei Lobarev, chairman of the board of the NP Guild of Driving Schools and director of the central driving school “Safety.” This increase is just the beginning. Prices will probably rise to 80-90 thousand."

There are reasons for such forecasts. Now driving schools must have their own racing track with an area of at least 0.24 hectares. “We don’t understand where this figure came from,” Sergei Lobarev is perplexed. “For example, at our school we have a race track of 0.16 hectares and 8 cars. They would say, for example: for such an area we need a fleet of 3-4 cars. But there is no alternative. The standard is the same for both buses and motorcycles. As a result, driving schools will have to rent new space. And, for example, in Moscow, the rental cost per square meter is 500 rubles. To pave it, you will have to pay at least 800 rubles. lighting and equipment of new areas. All these costs will inevitably lead to an increase in the price of training."

However, not all driving schools are physically capable of meeting the new requirements. “I think that up to half of the driving schools in the country will close,” says Alexander Kholodov, a member of the coordinating council of the interregional public organization of motorists “Freedom of Choice.” “If in large cities there were still large autodromes in some places, then in small cities there are practically none. As well as land resources to expand the sites. As a result, in a few months we will face a rush of demand for driving school services. Firstly, there will be more people who are unable to start training now. Secondly, the number of schools will decrease.” Sergei Lobarev also fears a cartel of driving school directors who will want to raise prices. The Antimonopoly Committee fined 1.8 million rubles. 19 Tyumen driving schools, which agreed and back in December 2012 increased the cost of training from 17 thousand rubles. up to 25 thousand. Sergei Lobarev fears that the same thing will happen throughout the country.

Wrong course

The price of training will also be affected by an increase in the training course. Now driving schools are urgently preparing for the transition to new training programs. “In Western Europe, theory is only 30-40 hours, but we had 106 before, and now it’s 134,” says Sergei Lobarev. “At the same time, in class we spend hours studying many things that foreigners learn in practice after a 15-minute theoretical lecture. Abroad, the driver training strategy is developed taking into account the statistics of deaths on the road. In Russia, we have seen an increase in mortality on highways. This means that we need to strengthen training in this direction. But we are prohibited from driving onto highways in case a student breaks something there. But after completing his training, he will enter this track at a high flow rate.”

Driving school directors believe that, overall, the program has not gotten any better since it got bigger. “For example, we increased the number of hours spent on setting up vehicles and providing first aid,” says Elena Zaitseva, executive director of the NGO “Association of Automotive Schools”, director of the University Driving School. “Although setting up a car is clearly not mandatory information for the average person. In addition, in many cases it is even contraindicated so that non-specialists provide medical care. In addition, one must realistically assess the pace of life. Few people can afford to attend all 134 hours, the higher the chances that the student will miss something really necessary.”

What worries Elena Zaitseva most is the change in the site-street ratio. And not in favor of the latter. “The number of classes on the site in the new program is 24 hours - this is almost half of the entire practical course, which will now be 56 hours,” explains Zaitseva. “Previously, students studied only 18 hours out of 50 on the site.”

DVRs for driving tests should reduce corruption, but are unlikely to completely eradicate it
Photo: Dmitry Korotaev, Kommersant

Special instructor

There may also be a shortage of instructors. The government decree provides new requirements for examiners. They must be at least 25 years old, have a higher education and have at least five years of driving experience. “Many instructors do not have higher education,” explains Kholodov. “In any case, driving schools will face the problem of a shortage of qualified personnel. Suitable instructors will need to increase their salaries, which may also affect the cost of training.”

The main innovation in the resolution “On permission to drive vehicles” is that now driving schools will be able to take final exams for drivers without the participation of traffic police officers. Previously, students had to first pass an internal exam at school and then confirm their skills with the state traffic inspectorate. Now, to obtain a license, driving school graduates only need to pass an internal exam (theory and platform). True, this privilege will not be granted to everyone, but only to those cadets who graduated from driving schools equipped with a special automated platform. All educational processes at such a race track are computerized and controlled by sensors. There are only about 30 such racing tracks in Russia so far. Attempts by the authorities to oblige all schools to set up such a racing track for themselves were unsuccessful; the Federal Antimonopoly Service intervened. It turned out that due to renting a racing track, the cost of training in a driving school will increase by 40%.

But even if a driving school does not have its own computerized racing track, its students can also limit themselves to an internal exam. Only a traffic police officer will receive it at the school site, on its car and equipment. And again the condition: this right is given to schools where no more than 30% of graduates have failed theory exams over the last six months and no more than 20% have failed at the traffic police site.

Experts see this approach as an opportunity to redistribute corruption flows. “Driving schools will have an additional incentive to inflate their grades,” explains Viktor Travin, president of the College for the Legal Protection of Car Owners. “There is a rating of the best driving schools; only those schools whose students pass the final exam the first time can get into it. It’s just that now the center of gravity of corruption will move to driving schools . The student will be completely dependent on driving schools. What can I say, the traffic police officers were cheated.” However, Travin believes that it is still necessary to exclude traffic inspectors from the examination process. “It would be strange if an exam for graduates of a financial academy was taken by a tax inspector,” the human rights activist draws an analogy. “In the West, for example, the police do not accept exams.”

Experts say that a plus is the new rule, according to which foreigners will not be able to simply exchange their country’s ID for a Russian license. From 2015, all citizens of other countries will have to take the same exams as Russians. Driving experience will not matter. An exception will be made for ambassadors and staff of diplomatic missions. “This will reduce the number of migrant drivers who drive poorly but drive minibuses,” explains Kholodov. “Among foreigners, only about 15% of drivers will be able to pass the exam.”

Exam with DVR

Since 2015, it is prohibited to write answers to theoretical part tickets by hand - only on a computer. Passing the practical part will also be recorded. To do this, each car will have to be equipped with a pair of DVRs with an audio recording function. They must record everything that happens in the cabin, as well as the situation on the road in front and behind the car. With their help, it will be possible to prove that the student drives the car independently. In addition, if the student is dissatisfied with the result, he will be able to challenge the inspector’s actions by presenting a video recording.

The logic of the authorities is clear: with the help of technology they want to eradicate corruption in obtaining rights. “The idea itself is correct,” explains Kholodov. “In part, an analogy can be drawn with bribes on the roads. After the advent of video cameras, there were fewer bribes. This method is really effective. But questions still remain open: where and how long will the video recordings of exams be stored, who will answer for their safety and bear responsibility for loss." For example, with the help of video cameras it would be easy to prevent bribery of driving school directors. Thus, the investigative department of Monchegorsk (Murmansk region) opened a criminal case against the director of one of the city’s driving schools. According to investigators, for 8 thousand rubles. he produced and gave a driver's training certificate to a person who had not actually attended school. The director was detained at the time of handing over the document.

However, the Internet is still replete with advertisements for the sale of rights. “Of course, the overwhelming number of offers are fakes, but approximately 10-12% of all rights purchased through the network are still registered with the traffic police,” Travin complains. “The questions still remain open why the sale of rights continues, and the people offering such services are not subject to criminal liability." To websites offering to buy licenses, all you need to do is send an application by email indicating your age and a scan of your passport. Prices for category B are approximately the same for everyone - about 30 thousand rubles. An employee of the best-prava.ru portal promised me to deliver the finished document within one or two days, tvoiprava.com takes the matter more seriously - at least they ask me to wait from 7 to 14 days. However, reviews of the work of these “organizations” traditionally begin like this: “Deception, fakes.” So this is not corruption, but just fraud.

Driving school with after-school lessons