Didn’t you see the waving of a stick, calling for a stop at the side of the road? Fine from 7 to 10 thousand rubles!
Photo: Svetlana MAKOVEEVA. Go to Photobank KP
INTENSIVE INSPECTORS
Did you not see the waving of a baton, calling for a stop at the side of the road? Did you yawn, look in the other direction, or deliberately ignore the traffic police officer? As it turned out, this is not so scary anymore: the fine is 500-800 rubles. It is unpleasant, but nothing more: parking in the wrong place or exceeding the speed limit by more than 40 km/h costs much more. Although it would seem that the violation was serious.
The government has taken note of this fact and has made amendments to the Administrative Code, according to which the fine for such a case will now be 7-10 thousand rubles. Repeated violations may result in deprivation of rights for up to six months.
The State Duma has already approved the bill in the first reading. There is no doubt that it will also pass the second and third readings.
“There has been a serious decline in driver discipline recently due to the increasing number of cases of non-compliance by employees of regulatory authorities with legal requirements to stop the vehicle,” the explanatory note says. In other words, traffic police officers began to “fail to notice” more often. And this must be combated.
“There really is a problem,” admits the vice-president of the National Automobile Union Anton Shaparin. – Pretending that you didn’t see a policeman and stepping on the gas is not so difficult. Our stationary traffic police posts have been cancelled. It is not a fact that there will be a second team next (besides, you can always pull off the road and hide). But traffic police do not always go in pursuit, only in emergency cases, if there is reason to believe that a serious violation has been committed or the car has been stolen, for example. Then, as a rule, this action does not have any consequences. But if they write a protocol, 500-800 rubles will not bother anyone much. For this amount you risk “getting away.”
It is important to remember here: if the chase occurred (with flashing lights, siren, everything as expected) and the driver repeatedly ignored the requirement to stop, then the punishment will be more severe. At least, a fine of 2,000 to 4,000 rubles. Or you can be detained for 15 days or receive compulsory work as a “load” (from 40 to 120 hours). At this point it becomes obvious that the refusal was deliberate. Otherwise, you can make an excuse: you did not notice, you were distracted, or the traffic cop’s gesture was simply not clear enough. And since there was no intent, it is impossible to judge strictly.
At least that was previously thought. Hence the modest fines. They will now be tightened considerably.
GIVE WHISTLES TO THE POLICE
But isn’t that a lot, at least up to 7 thousand rubles at a time?
– Let’s be honest: in the vast majority of cases, drivers see everything perfectly and deliberately ignore the requirement. Hoping that there will be no pursuit, the rest of the crew will not be on duty on the road or they will be able to hide somewhere and wait,” says Anton Shaparin. “At the same time, no one will stop.” This means that in this way people try to hide more serious violations. For example, driving without a license. Or in a state of intoxication. Of course, such things should be punished very severely. Therefore, the amount of 7-10 thousand rubles seems justified. We support this initiative.
But what if you really didn’t notice? Were you preparing to change lanes to the left, looked in the rearview mirror and didn’t really see the traffic cop’s call to stop? Or thick fog got in the way? Or a difficult situation on the road? Moreover, the traffic rules do not clearly specify how a police officer should indicate his demand. It only states that “it must be given by means of a loudspeaker device or a hand gesture directed at the vehicle.” In other words, you don’t even need a wand. The traffic cop can simply wave his palm, as if he were hailing a taxi. Someone will think so and pass by. But according to the law, it turns out that this was a legal requirement. And a hefty fine of 10 thousand will follow…
“Here we come to the point that it is also necessary to change the law regarding the actions of employees,” Anton Shaparin continues. – Uncle Styopa was carrying a whistle for a reason: we will definitely react to a sharp sound, while in some cases we may not even notice the movement of a baton or, especially, a hand. Traffic police officers do not have whistles – at least it is a good idea to hand them out. And clearly state in the regulations exactly what actions the police officer is obliged to demonstrate his demand to stop. And so that all this was recorded on the video of his chest. Accordingly, a fine should only be imposed when it is clearly proven that the driver simply had no chance not to notice the call to stop. And in this case, the fault lies only with you.
