In mid-June, reports noted that the capital’s ambulances had accumulated 4,450 fines since the start of 2022, with 117 of them tied to serious traffic violations. In response, the State Unitary Enterprise Mosavtosantrans announced preventive lectures for ambulance drivers. Should violations persist, drivers would receive explanatory notes, be required to pay fines from personal funds, and have bonuses revoked.
State Duma deputy Yaroslav Nilov criticized the plan, arguing that such enforcement could divert medical personnel and firefighters from arriving on time at emergencies. Nilov proposed not penalizing emergency vehicles for traffic infractions, but rather creating a special “anti-punishment” list containing license plates of cars that would not be fined by cameras.
Thus, there is talk of establishing a unified federal register listing all vehicles whose drivers may be unable to comply with traffic rules when needed. The initiative has found support from the OKO Association, whose members together represent roughly 70% of the photo and video recording systems market in Russia. Advocates say the register would reduce misunderstandings in processing materials captured by automatic traffic surveillance.
Experts caution that caution is essential: only vehicles directly involved in emergency responses should be included in the register, excluding administrative and support vehicles that sit on the balance sheet of departmental fleets.
Expert opinion
Eldar Tuzmukhametov, Executive Director of the OKO Association
He notes that the procedures for creating and removing vehicles from such a register must be clearly defined, including how decommissioned cars are handled and how long entries remain valid.
Currently, there exists a mechanism by which emergency vehicles are exempt from fines for traffic violations, and this practice is applied in everyday operations. For these vehicles, color schemes and design must comply with GOST standards, and this information should be reflected in the vehicle registration data.
According to the association, the neural network used to identify emergency vehicles helps prevent the misclassification of captured materials. If a fine is charged by mistake, it will be canceled at the request of the vehicle’s balance holder.
- The evidence base for criminal orders has been widely recognized as imperfect, and a new GOST is being developed.
- Routing video footage can now be accessed legally on RuTube.
A caption: Roman Pimenov / TASS, Association OKO.