The deputies proposed to mitigate the punishment for departure on the oncoming lane

7 August 2018

But the worst offenders will not be affected

Russian motorists have long been accustomed to a gradual toughening of punishments for infringement of traffic regulations. The government periodically raises the fines and introduces a new measure. But now the Duma have been thinking to legitimize exemptions: deputies introduced a bill providing for a more lenient punishment for departure on a strip of oncoming traffic and on the road with one-way traffic.

According to "Kommersant", a package of amendments to the administrative code was prepared by the deputies of the state Duma from the LDPR faction Jaroslav Nilov, Igor Lebedev and Andrei Svintsov and Boris Paikin. They propose to amend paragraphs 3 and 4 of article 12.15 of the administrative code.

Now, with the departure of the driver on the oncoming lane or tram ways of a counter direction entails a fine in the amount of 5000 rubles or disqualification for a term up to six months. Activists suggest to leave the reference just fine. The same change may relate to the road with one-way traffic.

But what about violators? The deputies thought about them: leniency will be provided only for those who commit this violation for the first time. When the same situation happens motorists will be able to deprive a driver's license. The members of the liberal democratic party suggest that the court in each case chose a sentence of imprisonment from two months to a year. At the moment, according to paragraph 4 of article 12.15 of the administrative code, the judges can disqualify the driver from the right of driving a vehicle only for a year.

A proposal on mitigation of punishment, the MPs is motivated by the fact that sometimes drivers commit violations voiced due to various objective and subjective reasons, including due to the lack of markings, poor traffic management, poor road condition, inadequate lighting and so on.

Also running in the explanatory to the bill it is mentioned that among the "disenfranchised" that were not previously made departure on an oncoming lane, a high proportion of those who sit behind the wheel of debt profession. Accordingly, the separation from vehicle control will deprive them and their families a livelihood.

First Deputy Chairman of the Duma Committee on state construction Vyacheslav Lysakov does not agree with the initiative of the deputies of the LDPR. He believes that today's rule has already proved its effectiveness. He drew attention to the fact that the courts make the decision on disenfranchisement only in 5% of cases: this measure shall be applied only in the case of persistent violators not paying fines.

In traffic police of Russia stressed that the exit lanes of oncoming traffic is the most common cause of road accidents in which result people perish. In this case, statistics for the first quarter of 2018 was optimistic: the number of such accidents decreased by 23 % (to 3.2 thousand accidents).