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Our state has been actively engaged in road safety issues relatively recently, seven years ago. Since initiatives and laws, decrees and state programs poured out of a cornucopia … As usual, most often they relied on the usual measures: prohibit and punish. To punish, of course, those who are easier - drivers. Therefore, the same period (2005-2007) was marked by the first attempts of motorists to organize in order to express and defend their point of view on the problem. Memorable are numerous actions in defense of the “right-hand drive”, protests against rising gas prices and the prevalence of flashing lights on roads, countless publications against the abolition of the permissible alcohol level of 0.3 ppm … The authorities heard some demands, but ignored some.
“As the leader of the public organization of motorists“Freedom of Choice,”I realized that the efficiency of these shares is not very high,” says State Duma deputy Vyacheslav Lysakov. - Since 2007, we have tried with other social activists to cooperate with deputies on a voluntary basis. It turned out that, in principle, it is possible to influence the legislative process; True, the “society-parliament” relationship worked very poorly. But still, it was possible to cancel a number of amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses, which could complicate the lives of drivers and lead to a new increase in corruption. For example, a penalty of deprivation of rights for drivers who did not stop at the request of a police officer. In the absence of video recording, the charge would be based only on the testimony of the inspector; Can you imagine how a feeding trough could appear! In a word, it became clear: it was necessary for someone in the State Duma to represent the interests of 40 million motorists. Moreover, the struggle for road safety in recent years has been reduced mainly to toughening punishments.
And in April of this year, a public structure appeared - a group to improve legislation in the field of road safety. It included representatives of a number of mass media (Za Rulem magazine, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Kommersant magazine, sites zr.ru, gazeta.ru, pravo.ru, etc.), representatives of public organizations, and lawyers. The work involved the heads of the traffic police, as well as experts in various fields. For example, when the issue of the notorious 0.3 ppm was discussed, toxicologists, narcologists, scientists were invited. Deputies of the State Duma from the Committee on Transport, member of the Federation Council Vladimir Fedorov take an active position. In total, 15–20 people gather for meetings. There is a first success: some amendments to the Taxi Act have been introduced.
“The law was passed a year ago in a terrible hurry (only two weeks passed from the appearance of the draft to the third reading. - I. M.), without consulting the professional community,” Lysakov is excited. - By and large, it was written in the way that managers of large metropolitan taxi companies would like (and this is only 2% of cars involved in carriage). As a result, the law turned out to be inoperative. Now, with the participation of representatives of professional organizations, important amendments have been adopted - I hope the law will start working this summer. Three bills were submitted to the State Duma for consideration, which were actively discussed at meetings of the working group: mitigation of punishment for leaving the oncoming lane for the first time (fine); the ability to pay the fine in part if the violator does so immediately, and, conversely, the introduction of a late fee fee; finally, the abolition of administrative arrest for non-payment, especially when it comes to small amounts.
Three or four more projects are under discussion and development. Firstly, the abolition of the zero threshold for blood alcohol content. The absurdity of this requirement, experts on the pages of the Republic of Poland justified more than once, it remains only to convince the government. Here, according to Lysakov, serious progress is evident and there is a chance to adopt new standards in the fall. But along with this, apparently, toughen penalties for repeated drunk driving.
Next - the abolition of Art. 166 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Unlawful seizure of a car or other vehicle without theft". This article is a real gift for any car thief who can now claim that he "took someone else's car just to ride" and get off with a suspended sentence. According to the existing logic, then one should not punish too severely the person who brought the television out of your house - after all, he dragged him “without the theft”, and, say, just wanted to watch an interesting football match. Tighter penalties will certainly lead to fewer hijackings.
The wording of Art. 75 and 76 of the Criminal Code, as well as Art. 25 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which provide for the possibility of terminating the criminal case “in connection with the reconciliation of the parties”. Imagine, people died in road accidents, but the culprit of the accident, if he is a very wealthy person, can negotiate with the relatives of the victims, pay them large sums of money - and the case closes at the pre-trial investigation stage. A number of members of the working group believe that this is antisocial: no money - go to the zone, you can pay off - free. The law should have a clear condition: only the victim himself can forgive the guilty person if he survived. Not forgiven - must be punished.
