Rights Are Not "buy" Now ?! How Exams Have Changed In The Traffic Police

2023 Author: Natalie MacDonald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 13:59

In Russia, from April 1, the procedure for conducting a practical exam for candidates for a driver's license has changed. Instead of two separate stages in the form of "site" and "city" there will be only one - immediately in real road conditions. We are figuring out whether this will make the exam more difficult and what will happen to the illegal purchase of rights due to innovations.

What happened

From April 1, 2021, the rules for conducting practical examinations at the traffic police have changed. The legal norms required for this, as well as the administrative regulations, have already entered into force. Now, candidate drivers do not have to come to a driving school site for snakes and flyovers one day, and then meet with an inspector for a trip around the city. The traffic police officer will check all the main elements at one time: right on the public road. Those who managed to pass the "city" before April 1 are promised to simplify the rest of the practical part.

Why is it needed

The traffic police have long accumulated complaints about the quality of training for future drivers in driving schools. The department did not like the fact that the students were "coached" to the delivery of the site and the city, memorizing the necessary elements and even city routes, where exams are usually held. The candidates tried to memorize the location of road signs, intersections and pedestrian crossings.

As a result, motorists who were not able to quickly and correctly respond to emergency situations and competently read the traffic situation then went out onto the streets. It was the drivers with the experience of up to two years who pretty much spoiled the statistics by arranging accidents.

“In driving schools, as a rule, candidates for drivers are given only the minimum level of knowledge and skills necessary to pass exams in the traffic police, which is clearly not enough for accident-free participation in road traffic. In addition, in the pursuit of profit and dumping prices for training, driving schools significantly reduce the number of hours of driving, which, in turn, negatively affects the readiness of candidates for drivers to participate in road traffic,”complained to the traffic police.

In order for drivers to learn to better orient themselves on the road, and not just bring back to the boxes, to the traffic police to automatism, and came up with a new scheme.

"The shift in the emphasis of checking the control skills of the candidate from the territories of closed areas to traffic conditions, the exclusion of the obligation to conduct a practical exam on predetermined examination routes, allow us to determine the degree of preparedness of the candidate precisely in the conditions of a real, constantly changing traffic situation," the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia explained to the correspondent of the Auto Magazine. RU.

What will change in the practice exam

Candidates will not be able to find out in advance the addresses of the streets along which they will have to travel with the inspector, as well as the exact routes. Only a general list of roads and territories for conducting practical exams will be publicly available. When moving along the route, the candidate, at the command of the examiner, will have to perform maneuvers in an arbitrary order.

True, all the inspector's teams are regulated - the inspector has no right to propose something from himself. And some exercises that were previously evaluated on the site will not be performed at all under the new rules: this is a "snake" and a 90-degree turn - it is simply dangerous to check such maneuvers in the city.

“When moving around the city, candidates need to perform four mandatory exercises: driving on an incline, turning in a confined space, entering the box in reverse and parallel parking,” Roman Mishurov, head of the traffic police department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, explained to Avto.ru magazine.

In addition to basic tasks, motorists will have to demonstrate confident flow control. The list of selectively evaluated maneuvers includes overtaking, turning, driving through regulated and unregulated intersections and pedestrian crossings, reverse parking at an angle of 90 degrees, and a whole list of tasks that an ordinary driver has to solve on the roads every day. They will give you 30 minutes for everything. But if the driver manages to complete the tasks earlier, then he will not be forced to "finish" the remaining time. And vice versa - if suddenly half an hour is not enough, the inspector can give additional time.

How the new exam will be scored

During the exam, you can score up to five penalty points. Errors will be estimated at one, two and three points. But there is also a list of gross violations, after which the exam will be terminated and given the grade “did not pass”. For example, in a situation where the instructor has to intervene in the process in order to avoid an accident, as well as in case of speeding, using a mobile phone while driving or driving through a solid road. Also, the exam will end immediately if the candidate forgets to fasten the seat belt.

How will they control

The whole process of passing the exam will be filmed by cameras with the function of video and audio recording. And in this part, nothing has changed: video filming has long been compulsory for driving exams. Usually everything that passes in front and behind the car is recorded. In addition, cameras monitor the actions of the driver candidate and the examiner, who sits at the duplicate pedals. This is done so that examiners cannot discreetly help the candidate during the movement, as is often the case with the "purchase" of rights. The speedometer, parking brake and direction indicators must be in the field of view of the camera. All dialogues in the car are also recorded.

However, there are also innovations in this part: there may be observers in the car. For example, other candidate drivers waiting in line, representatives of community organizations or driving schools.

“The participation of observers will help to improve the transparency of the exam and resolve possible controversial situations,” the traffic police said.

However, the examinee has the right to refuse to take fellow travelers, for example, if he thinks that they will distract him and interfere with the exam. It turns out that even an independent observer will not be able to check the collusion between the inspector and the driver: a candidate interested in a successful delivery will simply not let the inspector into the car. The opposite situation is also possible. If an observer sits down with a well-trained candidate who has already failed to pass the test several times just because of the inspector's principledness, then the problem should be solved at the expense of an outsider.

It turns out that it will be more difficult to buy the rights?

Experts familiar with the system believe that the exam has been made more convenient and understandable for drivers. However, the changes will hardly affect corruption: those who have learned to bypass the control system and "sell" driver's licenses will be able to do so now. This is the opinion of Igor Grishakov, a lawyer of the interregional trade union "Moscow Trade Union of Police".

“Examinations have been filmed before, there is a lot of control in this area, they carry out both checks and“purchases”. Previously, a huge share of issued certificates was simply sold, and those who wanted to surrender themselves were directly told that they would only succeed after the second or third time. Now the situation has become much better, - says Grishakov. - Of course, there are precedents, and driving schools and instructors themselves often act as intermediaries. Therefore, those who manage to "take" now will certainly be able to do so after April 1."

Grishakov also doubts that inspectors will not be able to help candidates using pedals.

“They help to get under way, slow down, throw off the gas. Now you can still take it on the "automatic" - it's even easier, the candidate can only steer, and the examiner will do everything for him, no additional obstacles have appeared,”the lawyer believes.

The scheme with observers, according to the expert, will work only if they are regularly changed and not attached to a specific MREO.

“If the region is small and everyone knows each other, then such an observer can become just an extra mouth in a corruption scheme,” the lawyer suggested.

Grishakov believes that the new scheme will make life easier for those who are going to pass the exam honestly - because it is easier to demonstrate their skills in the city, and tasks will be more understandable and objective compared to exercises in a closed and cramped area.