The Ministry of Internal Affairs has prepared a draft instruction (read by socialbites.ca) regulating the procedure for monitoring traffic in Russia. If adopted, the document will replace the existing administrative regulations that traffic police have been working with since 2017.
The new base document repeats many of the existing norms, but also includes a number of important innovations. In particular, the new layout enables inspectors to use the senses in conjunction with technical tools to assess the technical condition of vehicles on the road.
“The control of the technical condition of the vehicle is carried out by the organoleptic method or using special technical means.
for compliance with the requirements established for the vehicle in operation, ”says the draft order.
The current administrative regulation, which is scheduled to be repealed, does not mention the “organoleptic method” for determining whether a car meets the requirements of the technical regulation “On the safety of wheeled vehicles” and other standards for allowing vehicles to be put on the road. Also, traffic cops tested Using such methods to justify the sanctions imposed, but this practice was nothing more than curiosity and extremism in the field of certain employees.
Traffic cops now have a full-fledged regulatory justification for using their subjective feelings as evidence of a driver’s guilt.
More cameras on the roads
In addition, the new document expands the set of features that determine the location where video recording cameras will be installed. The current regulation states that they are selected based on the analysis of the crashes on the road sections where the accident probability is high.
In addition to emergency areas and places where accidents are concentrated, cameras must be used where there are fewer accidents than this term predicts.
According to the law “On Road Safety”, sections of streets and roads where at least three similar accidents or five or more accidents of any type occur each year are considered to be accident-hazardous areas if people are killed or injured, or according to the “Road Safety” law places of concentration.
Existing administrative regulations provide the opportunity to work in the traffic flow of undercover traffic police patrols on vehicles without special signals and color schemes. A new draft order for the inspectors involved in their work expressed an additional requirement – it is forbidden to take actions that force road users to violate the requirements of traffic rules.
leave the car
A more stringent statement has been introduced regarding situations where the traffic police inspector needs the driver or passenger to get out of the vehicle. In particular, the inspector will have the right to “request” the driver or passenger to exit the vehicle in case of detention, personal search or removal from control, as well as other legal proceedings.
At the same time, for not complying with the lawful request of a police officer, Article 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. Responsibility is given in accordance with Article –
From a fine of 2 thousand rubles to a detention of 15 days.
If the inspector sees that the driver is tired or sick and it is necessary to correct the fault or identify the vehicle, he will only be able to offer the driver to get out of the vehicle. According to the regulations in force, this expression also applies to the inspection or inspection of vehicle and cargo as well as personal search situations.
socialbites.ca contacted the press center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with questions about why such innovations in the field of traffic control are needed and the list of malfunctions that will be detected using the senses of inspectors during the broadcast. The editors did not receive a response.
How to deal with possible arbitrariness
Experts say that if the driver believes that the malfunction, noticed by the inspector, cannot be detected visually, then a protocol should be required, in which the traffic police will have to indicate the amount of deviation from the permissible parameters.
“This is for example the amount of play in the steering wheel, the exhaust emissions, the light transmission of the windows,
Viktor Travin, Chairman of the Car Owners’ Legal Protection Board, explains to socialbites.ca. “Everything that is measured quantitatively has its own maximum allowable norms.”
These norms should be recorded in the protocol and any authorized inspector will not allow the measured parameter not to be included in the protocol, he adds.
The desire to tighten the wording on “requirements” instead of “offers” to drivers is prompted by article 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. However, Travin insists he identifies crimes committed as part of policing, not traffic enforcement.
“In our circumstances, anything can lead to abuse.
However, in the case of serious malfunctions, diagnostic devices and specially trained workers should be used, ”said Viktor Pokhmelkin, head of the Motorists Movement of Russia, in an interview with socialbites.ca. “And in this case the driver has the opportunity to defend himself against unsubstantiated claims.”
But to do so, he said, the driver may need to know current regulations and verify that the vehicle meets the requirements.
“As for the cameras, they are usually installed to gather more resources and prevent accidents, regardless of the instruction of the traffic police. This is a serious issue that needs to be addressed,” Pokhmelkin concluded.
Source: Gazeta
