Authorities are tightening rules for installing road systems

As Kommersant learned, the Ministry of Transport has prepared a draft of new requirements for traffic cameras. Officials want to prohibit the installation of complexes that record the same type of violations more often than once per kilometer. More regions will have to notify the traffic police about the activation of the new complex at least 20 days in advance. And mobile cameras will be marked on the roads with new information boards. Experts interviewed by Kommersant criticized these norms.

Let us remind you that on September 1, 2024, a law developed on behalf of the president will come into force, tightening the rules for the use of traffic cameras. As Kommersant told, he introduces a closed list of places for installing complexes (“dedicated areas”, repair zones, emergency areas, etc.), provides for mandatory coordination of locations with the traffic police, rules for turning off cameras, etc. All the technical details of the law will be enshrined in a separate government decree. Its project is already ready and is undergoing internal departmental approval, the Ministry of Transport told Kommersant. After approval, the document will be posted on regulation.gov.ru for public discussion.

“Kommersant” was able to familiarize itself with the first edition of this project. Thus, it says that control zones of cameras recording the same types of violations (for example, speeding) cannot be located closer than 1 km to each other in populated areas and no closer than 5 km outside the city. However, exceptions are possible “depending on the location of accident concentration areas.”

Another innovation is that road services will have to hang devices so that the structures (L-reverse supports, etc.) do not obscure road signs and traffic lights. And if the camera is mobile and used outside the city, then the control zone can be indicated not only by stationary signs, but also by some information boards, where “controlled conditions and traffic modes” will be indicated. The boards will be placed at a distance of 150–300 meters in front of the control zone, so that drivers can see them in any lane from a distance of at least 100 meters. And regional authorities will have to inform the traffic police about the activation of a new camera no later than 20 days in advance.

The OKO association (which unites camera manufacturers and operators of photo and video recording systems) believes that the project needs to be finalized. The main complaint is the requirement to install cameras only in those places where there is already a hotbed of accidents. Let us remember that this term refers to a section of road no more than 200 or 1 thousand meters long (in a populated area or outside the city), where three or more accidents with victims of the same type or at least five different accidents occurred in a year. The association believes that it is necessary to preserve the ability to install cameras where there are signs of such an outbreak – for example, isolated accidents with victims or a large number of similar violations.

The MVS Group company (operator of a photo-video recording system near Moscow) called the norm limiting the permissible distance between cameras “uncertain.” According to the company, this is against the law and could lead to an increase in the number of accidents. And the company considers the 20-day period for transmitting information about the installation of complexes “excessive and unreasonable.” According to MVS Group, this standard will not allow for a prompt response to emergencies, since mobile systems are brought to the control line on average for up to five days.

An expert on photo and video recording systems, Grigory Shukhman, supports the installation of information boards as a measure to prevent violations. But he notes that a large billboard on a temporary support can have a high windage – that is, it can be blown off the side of the road onto the roadway. At the same time, the expert doubts that the Moscow authorities will be able to comply with the requirement of a minimum distance of 1 km between cameras. “There is a particularly high density of cameras in the city on dedicated roads,” explains Grigory Shukhman. “It cannot be ruled out that the Moscow mayor’s office will try to lobby for a reduction in this distance, conditionally, to 300 meters at the project stage.” The Moscow Traffic Organization Center told Kommersant that the draft resolution had not yet come to them for consideration. The Moscow Region Ministry of Transport responded to Kommersant’s request that they “thoroughly studied” the new federal law on cameras and are currently bringing “regional legal acts” into line with it.

Let us remind you that an important part of the “cell reform”, starting on September 1 along with the new law, should also be amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences. The code should include a provision prohibiting the issuance of fines from cameras installed (or used) in violation of the rules or not marked according to the rules. Such a bill has already been prepared by senators Andrei Turchak, Andrei Klishas and Irina Rukavishnikova; it was adopted in the first reading in December 2021, but has been without movement since then.

Ivan Buranov