The government proposes to revoke a driver's license for three gross violations per year and fine for dangerous driving. This is part of the government’s policy to tighten traffic rules and rules for citizens’ access to driving.

A traffic police officer during work (Photo: Alexey Malgavko/RIA Novosti)

Triple violation

On Monday evening, the government introduced amendments to the State Duma to the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO), which provide for the deprivation of driver's licenses from drivers who flagrantly violated traffic rules three times in a year. According to the document (published on the portal of State Duma bills), the court will have the right to deprive a driver’s license for a period of one to one and a half years. For those who have committed an offense without a driving license, sanctions are planned in the form of fines - from 10 thousand to 30 thousand rubles.

Innovations are proposed to be prescribed in a new article of the Code of Administrative Offenses - 12.38 “Systematic violation of the rules of operation, use of a vehicle and driving a vehicle.” As follows from a message on the government website, this article will include administrative offenses “that are the main causes of road accidents.”

Those who significantly violated the speed limit, drove through a red light, turned around while driving in reverse in the wrong places, drove into the oncoming lane, refused to comply with the requirement to give way to pedestrians and cyclists, did not give way to vehicles with the right of way (for example, public transport) will be deprived of their rights. transport). Courts will be able to deprive a person of rights on the basis of three violations only if these violations are recorded by traffic police officers - non-compliance with traffic rules recorded by video cameras will not be taken into account.

The explanatory note to the bill states that the document was prepared to implement the government plan to reduce mortality from road accidents. According to government statistics, in 2014, more than 200 thousand road accidents were registered in the country, in which more than 27 thousand people died and almost 253 thousand were injured. An analysis of statistical data carried out by officials shows that the main cause of road accidents in Russia is failure to comply with traffic rules (87% of all road accidents was caused by this), the authors of the bill specify.

Government bills, as a rule, are supported by the committee, an interlocutor in the relevant committee told RBC. If the project is sent to the traditional monthly mailing list to collect feedback, then the State Duma will not have time to accept it at this session, he clarified.

Against reckless drivers

On Monday, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree that introduces a new concept into the traffic rules - “dangerous driving.” Dangerous driving, as follows from a document published on the government website, means “repeatedly committing one or more consecutive actions.”

This is a refusal to comply when changing lanes with the requirement to give way to a vehicle enjoying the right of way, changing lanes during heavy traffic when all lanes are occupied (an exception will be made in the case of turning left or right, making a U-turn, stopping or going around an obstacle), refusal to maintain a safe distance from a moving vehicle ahead of the vehicle, failure to maintain a lateral interval, sudden braking if it is not required to prevent an accident, as well as obstruction of overtaking.

First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, who oversees the issue of traffic regulations, explained that the next step would be to determine the amount of the fine for dangerous driving. It is assumed, the Deputy Prime Minister noted, that the fine for dangerous driving will be 5 thousand rubles. and more. The final decision should be made in the fall, Shuvalov said.

“The decree concerns those who behave incorrectly on the road, endangering not only their lives, but also the lives of others,” Medvedev explained the need for the decree at a government meeting on Monday. According to him, the changes should discipline those who behave outrageously on the road.

The government's decision and Medvedev's statement coincided with the scandal surrounding the detention of the son of the vice-president of the oil company LUKOIL, Ruslan Shamsuarov. On May 23, the driver of his Mercedes Gelandewagen (an acquaintance of Shamsuarov was driving) started a race with traffic police officers with gross traffic violations. The driver of the car crossed a continuous strip, drove onto lawns and drove along sidewalks. Shamsuarov was detained . On Tuesday it became known that a criminal case under two articles was opened against participants in “races” on an SUV in Moscow, the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee reported. We are talking about hooliganism and insulting government officials.

The trend is tightening

Over the past few years, authorities have been systematically tightening traffic rules. In 2014, President Vladimir Putin signed a law that criminalizes driving while intoxicated. Liability was introduced for those citizens who were repeatedly caught driving while intoxicated within a year or refused a medical examination.

For repeated drunk driving, the offender faces a fine in the amount of 200 thousand to 300 thousand rubles, or punishment in the form of compulsory (for a term of up to 480 hours) or forced (for a term of up to two years) labor, or imprisonment for that same deadline. All sanctions are accompanied by a ban “from holding certain positions for a period of up to three years.”

In March 2016, at a meeting of the State Council, Putin again called for tougher traffic rules. In April 2016, it became known that State Duma deputy Vyacheslav Lysakov introduced a bill to the lower house that would increase the fine for tinting a car. If deputies support the initiative, the fine for excessive tinting will increase from 500 to 1.5 thousand rubles. Repeated violation will result in a fine of 5 thousand rubles. or deprivation of rights for up to three months.

Since January 2016, a law has come into force that makes it possible to limit the validity of a driver’s license for citizens with arrears of traffic police fines or alimony in the amount of at least 10 thousand rubles. The document assumes that the right to drive a vehicle will be restored immediately after the debt is paid. In January 2016, the Ministry of Justice prepared a draft government resolution that introduces a ban on the provision of several government services to defaulters in budgets of different levels: registering a vehicle, passing a test for the right to drive a vehicle and obtaining a driver’s license.

Chairman of the Russian Motorists Movement Viktor Pokhmelkin believes that the main reason for tightening penalties for traffic violations is the desire to expand the scope of offenses for which sanctions are issued manually. “Since proposals to change legislation in the field of traffic rules come from the traffic police, the customer of this initiative is understandable,” he argues. “Due to the spread of electronic types of recording of offenses, the number of traffic police officers on the roads has decreased significantly, and the corruption potential of these people has also decreased.”

Elusive Ruslan

The government's decision and Medvedev's statement coincided with the scandal surrounding the detention of the son of the vice-president of the oil company LUKOIL, Azat Shamsuarov, Ruslan. On May 23, the driver of his Mercedes Gelandewagen (an acquaintance of Shamsuarov was driving) started a race with traffic police officers with gross traffic violations. The driver of the car crossed a continuous strip, drove onto lawns and drove along sidewalks. All this, as it later turned out, was filmed on a mobile phone video camera by one of the Mercedes passengers - the video became public on May 24, the recording was carried out using the mobile video streaming application Periscope.

15 days for the driver

After the scandal broke, representatives of the metropolitan police reported that the offenders were detained and taken to the police station. The head of the metropolitan police, Anatoly Yakunin, reviewed the case and expressed dissatisfaction with the actions of his subordinates, who only fined the hooligans. Later, Mercedes driver Abduvahob Majidov received administrative arrest for 15 days, and was also sentenced to 200 hours of correctional labor. Passengers Viktor Uskov (15 days) and Mara Baghdasaryan (10 days), who were found guilty of disobeying the legal demands of a police officer, also received administrative arrest. The owner of the car, Ruslan Shamsuarov, disappeared and did not make contact. “He’s doing this in vain. In any case, he will have to appear in court - we will send the materials to him - and explain himself in court. I think that in court he will be assessed for malicious disobedience to the lawful orders of police officers,” Yakunin said about this in an interview with Ren-TV. Ruslan Shamsuarov was detained only on May 28 - he was taken to the Gagarinsky Court of Moscow, which decided to arrest Shamsuarov for 15 days.

Third try

At the same time, the metropolitan police twice opened a criminal case for hooliganism after the chase incident, but each time the prosecutor’s office stopped the investigation, citing the fact that the actions of the Mercedes passengers did not constitute a criminal offense. On Tuesday, May 31, the Investigative Committee of Russia tried to bring the participants in the chase to criminal responsibility. The official representative of the department, Vladimir Markin, said that “a criminal case has been opened” against the young people who organized auto racing in Moscow under two articles of the Criminal Code - Art. 213. and art. 319 (hooliganism, insulting authorities).

Three yellow cards: how liability for drivers is being tightened