One of the reasons why we get nervous when we are stopped has to do with traffic fines. This is an expensive "treat" for most drivers, but the police never stop giving them away, and there is no surefire way to avoid sanctions. Avoiding common violations in everyday travel is the only thing that can increase the odds in your favor, save your nerves and keep money in your wallet.
Russia does not lead the charts of countries with the highest fines, but its road warders issue a huge number of receipts every day. Drivers receive fines for every offense they commit, even the smallest. Most often, the amounts are moderate, but sometimes they reach hundreds of thousands of rubles, and for legal entities - even up to a million.
Experts agree: no matter where you live, prevention is always the best medicine when it comes to traffic violations. However, few of us live our lives without a fine for speeding, driving on a red road or any other sinful act. Let's look at the reasons and amounts of the most impressive penalties imposed by the Russian law enforcement agencies on guilty drivers.
1. Driving under the influence of alcohol / drugs
Thousands of people die every year as a result of drunk driving or under the influence of drug / psychotropic drugs that slow down the reaction, traffic statistics say. Fines for driving with disabilities are high around the world, sometimes reaching several thousand dollars and accompanied by loss of driver's license, cancellation of insurance and even jail time.
Russian laws are also strict on people driving while intoxicated - such a driver will be punished with deprivation of rights for 1, 5-2 years and a fine of 30 thousand rubles. Similar sanctions await both sober private car owners who allowed a drunk to drive a vehicle, and organizations, and in the latter case, the amount reaches 100,000 rubles. To test drivers for the level of alcohol and the presence of drugs and medicinal substances in the body, both simple indicators and analyzers and high-precision complex devices are used, some with the possibility of video recording.
The most serious cases of violations are considered in the criminal code: criminal liability is added to the significantly increased fines (200-300 thousand rubles, according to the amendments adopted on July 1, 2021). The courts are especially ruthless to recidivists who are re-caught driving in a drunken state, especially if they were previously subjected to administrative punishment for a similar offense or have a conviction for injuring someone while drunk. Not to mention an accident with human casualties - in this case, the material penalty can reach up to half a million rubles.
2. Driving without a license or after a license has been revoked
Driving a car during the period of deprivation of rights or transferring the steering wheel to a person punished by deprivation of rights is also punished with 30 thousand rubles. Alternatives are 15 days' arrest and / or up to 200 hours of correctional labor. If you just drive without a license, you will be punished for 5000-15000 rubles.
3. Disregard for load and / or size restrictions
If you drive under a prohibition sign limiting transport in terms of size and weight, without special permission, you can lose from 7,000 to 10,000 rubles. or lose your rights for several months (up to six months). An equally large amount of a fine (up to 10,000 rubles) is provided for madmen who decide to ride a car with an oversized cargo in the trunk or on the roof. For owners-legal entities, according to tradition, the punishment is more serious - up to 500,000 rubles.
4. Causing injuries in road accidents
According to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, a driver who violated the rules of traffic and / or operation of a car, as a result of which someone suffered a fairly significant (but not life-threatening) harm to health, will be fined 10-25 thousand rubles. and / or will have their rights withdrawn for a couple of years.
5. Illegal installation of sirens, flashing lights, etc
Those who want to highlight their car on the road, supplying it with heterogeneous lighting equipment, illegal designations (the sticker "disabled", by the way, has been abolished since the beginning of 2021, having switched to electronic form), advertising applications and other illegal attributes, are punished with fines of up to 5,000 rubles. (legal entity - up to 500,000 rubles) with the seizure of the subject of violation.
6. Incorrect transportation of people and goods
The movement of passengers and / or goods within the Russian Federation by means of transport belonging to foreign carriers is punished by Rostransnadzor by the detention of the vehicle, sending it to a specialized parking lot and a fine of 150 to 200 thousand rubles. (Art. 11.26). Almost as harshly (100-150 thousand rubles), the law applies to international road transport without special permits or with incorrectly completed documents, to the use of unequipped passenger buses and other violations of the road regulations.
Ordinary motorists guilty of non-observance of transportation rules are punished not so harshly, but also perceptibly. For example, for the absence of a child seat, a parent transporting a baby under 7 years old will be punished for 3 thousand rubles, an official (a teacher, say, or a taxi driver) - for 25 thousand, an organization (school, taxi company) - for 100 thousand. rubles. If an accident happened, and the child was injured or died, the carrier may lose not only a more substantial amount (up to 500,000 rubles), but also end up in prison for 6 years.
7. Parking on the lawn
This is one of the oldest, but rethought in our days offenses, punishable today by the competent authorities with special zeal and extraordinary severity. A few years ago, people could only chide for parking on the grass, but now such liberty is considered almost a crime. Such a harsh approach used to be applied only to drivers who left their cars in prohibited places, which led to an accident or a fair amount of traffic obstruction.
Purpose and functions of each piece of territory, incl. and parking lots are regulated by local authorities - city municipalities, regional authorities, etc., therefore, the punishment for illegal deployment varies from city to city. The most severe - in the Moscow region and especially in the capital, where the defilers of landscape design are charged with damaging green spaces by means of a car. A private trader who has entered the lawn will be fined 5 thousand rubles, even if this is not a malicious act, but the result of innocent negligence.
And if the transport is owned by a legal entity, the amount increases to 300 thousand (in theory, sanctions can be challenged or retrained by agreeing to mitigate punishment at least to the level of an individual, but the success of this venture is far from 100%).
But not only traffic police can punish the driver. In many countries, there are many strange bans for motorists.