In the plenary session of the Senate, a law was discussed that envisages introducing amendments and changes to the Criminal, Criminal Procedure Codes, and the Codes on Administrative Responsibility due to the improvements in the road traffic safety system. The Senate information service reported this.
It is reported that the law includes new norms aimed at preventing the negative consequences of non-compliance with road traffic rules.
Among other things, criminal liability is being introduced for repeatedly driving a vehicle while intoxicated by making the relevant amendments to the Criminal Code.
It is noted that in relation to driving under the influence, 40,542 violations were detected in 2021, 47,365 in 2022, 41,866 in 2023, and 31,436 in 2024. In 2024, nearly 8,000 drivers were administratively liable for driving under the influence, after which cases of repeated offenses have been observed.
As a result of driving under the influence, nearly 600 road accidents occurred between 2020 and 2024. As a consequence of these, 322 citizens died during this period.
Moreover, the Criminal Code is also considering criminal liability for violations such as disrupting the procedure of training and retraining of motor vehicle drivers, conducting exams, issuing driving licenses, driving by a person deprived of the right to drive, and violating safety rules when using vehicles powered by compressed natural gas, liquified petroleum gas, or a diesel and gaseous fuel mixture.
Furthermore, the Code on Administrative Responsibility is designating administrative liability for hooliganism on transport, namely, for "aggressive driving," "drifting," "chess" style maneuvers, creating obstacles on roads, and other behaviors that demonstrate a lack of adherence to driving culture by certain drivers.
Additionally, the law is introducing responsibility for the application of administrative penalties for road traffic rule violations calculated by penalty points. When applying administrative penalties for exceeding the set limit of penalty points, the minimum disqualification period from driving rights is also being considered for not less than six months.
This law was also reviewed during the 55th plenary session of the Senate held on 16 August 2024. Some norms were deemed not to correspond with today's reality and current legal requirements, leading to the decision to form a conciliation commission comprised of Senate members and deputies of the Legislative Chamber. According to reports, the proposed suggestions and objections were thoroughly reviewed by the commission, and all issues were discussed in detail, leading to the refinement of the law.
Specifically, the new Article 195-2 being introduced into the Code on Administrative Responsibility has been completely reworked: the right of citizens to photograph, video record law enforcement officers, and distribute these images remains preserved. Unlike the previous revision, liability for posting such content on social networks is not being established. It only requires not to distort the image of the officers in a way that could defame them, that is, not to distort the actions, words, and circumstances, and not to edit them for this purpose.
In this article, administrative liability is being established for distorting the photo or video image of law enforcement officers performing their duties of ensuring public safety in a manner that could defame them, including distributing it on the internet.
The sanctions stipulated in this article regarding the amount of fine have also been reviewed. The strictly defined fine amounting to 50 times the base calculation value has been adjusted from 20 to 50 times, and the strictly defined administrative detention of 15 days has been reduced to up to 10 days.
The law was approved by the senators.
