Exceeding 20 Km / H: Cancel Or Not. What The Experts Think

It seems that Russian drivers are the only ones in the world who can drive 20 km / h faster than the permitted speed limit and not receive fines for this. However, more and more often there are proposals to abolish such a loyal non-penalty threshold. We spoke with experts and found out what they think about this.

What is the non-penalty threshold and when did it appear

Drivers were allowed to exceed the speed limit by 20 kilometers per hour with impunity in 2013. Prior to that, a fine of 100 rubles was issued for exceeding by 10 km / h. In large cities and on federal highways, the number of inspectors who caught reckless drivers by hand became less and less: they were replaced by automatic complexes for fixing violations. But the first devices did not differ in the accuracy of measurements, and drivers began to receive erroneous decisions for non-existent excess. Plus, there were some manipulations with instrument settings, which led to even more erroneous penalties.

State Duma deputy Vyacheslav Lysakov drew attention to this problem. It was he who made sure that the norm on punishment for exceeding by 10 km / h disappeared from the Code of Administrative Offenses, and non-compliance with the limit of 20-40 km / h became the minimum punishable offense.

This eliminated the errors that the cameras allowed. As a result, there are fewer penalties for minimum excess. But there is a downside: drivers began to drive at 80 km / h in cities instead of the prescribed 60 km / h, and on highways the legal maximum speed of movement increased to 150 km / h, although there is still no faster sign "130" in traffic rules. Therefore, in order to somehow reason with the reckless drivers, the maximum permissible speed in cities began to be reduced to 20-40 km / h.

Finally, the accuracy of speed measurement by road cameras has increased significantly over the past seven years, and the question arose about returning the previous rate. However, motorists are so accustomed to indulgence that any talk of cancellation is criticized, and the main argument of opponents of the return is "the desire to get into the driver's pocket."

As a result, there is no penalty for exceeding 10 km / h in the draft of the new Code of Administrative Offenses. However, traffic experts regularly demand the return of an unpopular norm.

Who and why is in favor of tightening speed limits

It is necessary to read the road signs literally, and follow their instructions - impeccably, says the coordinator of the project "Map of dead roads", deputy Alexander Vasiliev. He is sure: if the driver exceeds the speed by at least 1 km / h, he can be considered an offender.

“If the limit of 60 km / h is in effect and we are driving 79 km / h, this is a violation,” Vasiliev believes. - Drivers are used to not paying attention to the rules, this opportunity is guaranteed to all of us by the Code of Administrative Offenses. The situation is awful: whatever sign you hang, it will be ignored. And if a motorist follows the signs, they begin to oppress him, twist him at his temple, in the end he still has to follow the stream.

Because of this threshold, cities began to impose restrictions of 20 km / h - where in fact it is necessary to reduce the speed to 40 kilometers per hour. This is a completely unjustified approach. But none of the departments wants to take responsibility for canceling the benefits, they are afraid of imposing penalties. Therefore, this step must be taken by the government."

The Oko Association of Manufacturers and Operators of Recognition and Photo-Video Recording Systems also advocates the abolition of the non-punishable limit for exceeding, but with some reservations. They explained that modern road cameras are able to measure speed with an accuracy of 1 km. At the same time, the permissible error for such devices by GOSTs is 2-3 km. It turns out that lowering the non-penalized speed threshold immediately to 1 km / h will contradict the existing standards. But 3-5 km / h is quite. In order for drivers to have time to change lanes, the association proposes to temporarily move the bar by 10 kilometers per hour of the permissible excess.

“The penalty threshold of 20 km / h is unprecedented in world practice, it needs to be lowered,” Oko believes. - In Russia, the permitted speed within a settlement, together with the non-fine threshold, is 80 km / h. This is twice the speed limit in many European cities.

The norm contradicts the global trend to reduce the permitted speeds in cities to 30 km / h. It is speed that is the main factor in injuries and deaths on the roads. In terms of the number of deaths as a result of road accidents, our country is 3-5 times ahead of other developed countries. High speeds are equally dangerous for pedestrians and drivers.

According to the American Association of Urban Transportation Authorities (NACTO), in a collision at a speed of 37 km / h, 10 percent of victims are killed, at a speed of 51 km / h - 25 percent, at a speed of 80 km / h - 75 percent! In 2020, the authorities of the Netherlands and Spain announced a decrease in the permitted speed of movement in settlements to 30 km / h, and the mayor of Paris indicated that the limit of 30 km / h will apply throughout the city from 2021."

The head of the Probok.net expert center, Alexander Shumsky, only partially supports the idea. He considers it optimal to start with a threshold of 10 km / h in large cities and not yet extend the norm to suburban highways.

“Outside the city limits, the risk of serious accidents due to high speed is much lower than in the city,” said Shumsky. - In 2013, we had a non-penalized speed threshold of 20 km / h, but at the same time, the accident rate on the roads began to drop sharply.

This means that drivers were able to drive a little faster, but the number of accidents decreased, and the benefit did not bring any negative effect. And if we cancel it now, it does not mean at all that our accident rate will drop sharply. Therefore, I do not see any point in giving up +20 km / h on the highway, but in large cities a speed of 50 km / h is generally sufficient."

Who is in favor of maintaining the free threshold and why

The deputy Vyacheslav Lysakov, as expected, strongly opposes the abolition of the amendment of his own authorship. He considers it useless to discuss the idea itself until the speed limit on federal highways is raised where the currently permitted speed is unreasonably low.

“First, we need to remove feeding traps from federal highways, because now they work primarily to collect fines, and not to ensure safety, increase the speed on highways in accordance with their category, and only then can we start discussing a possible reduction in the fine threshold to 10 km / h. This position is fully supported by the United Russia party,”Lysakov said.

The President of the National Automobile Union Anton Shaparin is sure that the “non-fines” +20 km / h will compensate for the low speed limit both on the highways and in the city.

“Traffic conditions in a city differ from those on highways. On suburban highways, speeding by about 20 km / h does not lead to an accident, says Shaparin. - If drivers have the opportunity to drive constantly in one comfortable high-speed mode, without acceleration and deceleration, such a track automatically becomes safer. For example, if there is a limit of 130 km / h on the highway, the whole flow goes quietly for 150 km / h - everything suits the drivers. And if you go faster, you have to burn more gas.

In the city, speeding is becoming more critical for both drivers and pedestrians. But in megalopolises there are roads where the speed limit is unreasonably low. Road workers install signs of 60 km / h even on closed sections without intersections with pedestrian crossings and other roads, because in Russia there are GOSTs developed in the days of cars without ABS. It turns out that the "non-fines" +20 km / h can somehow increase the throughput of such roads. Often 40 km / h signs are placed in emergency places. It is worth checking whether it is precisely because of speeding that accidents occur there, or whether it is, for example, in an illiterate road markings.

If you abandon the unpunished speed limit, you first need to revise the GOSTs, then get rid of the low speed limit on the highways and only after that remove the current norm. At the same time, the permissible error must still be at least +10 km / h. Indeed, in Russia, the average age of a car is 13.6 years. These are old domestic models, on which the speedometer can operate with a high level of error, which is fraught with fines."

Rifkat Minnikhanov, the director of the State Budgetary Institution "Road Safety" of Tatarstan and the ex-head of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate of the region, is sure: the initiative on the non-fines +20 km / h was taken primarily under pressure from motorists who wanted to get the most out of modern roads and cars.

“This is an illogical norm from the point of view of global trends - limiting the permitted speed to 40-50 km / h and increasing fines. It is dangerous from the point of view of pedestrians, drivers and passengers who are accustomed to move calmly and confidently along pedestrian crossings, along their own half of the road and along their own lane, observing the requirements of traffic lights, road markings and signs. In addition, it is absolutely illogical: there is a massive motorization of the urban and rural population, but at the same time there are still not everywhere road barriers, high-quality external lighting, safe roadside infrastructure,”Minnikhanov said.

What do they think at the highest level

Disputes about the fate of the non-punishable limit are also going on in the highest echelons of power. The State Traffic Inspectorate has long been saying that driving on the roads, exceeding the speed by 20 km / h with impunity, is unacceptable. At first, the department expressed caution: that first you need to audit the roads in each region, optimize the placement of signs and speed limits, and only then talk about canceling the privilege. But, summing up the results of the social campaign "Unambiguously", in 2019 the head of the traffic police Mikhail Chernikov said that leaving the current threshold is unacceptable.

“This should not be on the roads in our country. Road signs must be understood unambiguously,”said Chernikov.

In Moscow, officials also regularly remind that the free speeding threshold should be halved. And the head of the Moscow Department of Transport Maxim Liksutov has repeatedly emphasized: the measurement error at the road camera is no more than 3 km / h. Thus, the real views on the situation at the Department of Transport and the Center for Traffic Organization (TSODD) of the capital are even tougher.

“In Moscow, the main traffic violation is considered to be overspeeding. For 10 months of 2020, 58 percent of decisions for traffic violations in Moscow were made for speeding, - explained in the data center. - High speed increases the risk of an accident and the severity of injury.

Lowering the non-punishable speed threshold will strengthen control over the observance of traffic rules, as well as increase the discipline of drivers and focus their attention on traffic conditions.

According to statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), when driving a car at a speed of 50 km / h, the probability of death for an adult is 20 percent. And with 80 km / h actually permissible in Russia now (taking into account the non-fine threshold), this probability increases immediately by 60 percent.

If we take the streets where it is allowed to drive 80 km / h, and with the non-fine threshold - all 100, the pedestrian has no chance of surviving at all. Experts from the Higher School of Economics (HSE) have come to the conclusion: if the unpunished speed limit is reduced from the current 20 to 10 km / h, the death rate in road accidents will decrease by 10 percent, if up to 5 km / h - by 15 percent."

But no matter how many experts, officials and even representatives of the traffic police argue, the fate of the issue primarily depends on the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. Quite recently, they finally decided on a decision and refused to manipulate the non-fine threshold.

“The basis for ensuring road safety is the arrangement of highways. If there are dividing barriers on the road, the road is lit and the surface is smooth, this has a much greater impact on safety than manipulation of the 10 km / h topic,”said the head of the department Vladimir Kolokoltsev.

The Ministry of Justice has already taken into account the position of the Ministry of Internal Affairs: in the draft of the new Code of Administrative Offenses, no new speed limits are spelled out, and the fine for exceeding 20-40 remains the same - 500 rubles.