Changes have been prepared to the rules for taking exams for future motorists

Driver candidates will receive relief, as follows from the draft amendments to the Ministry of Internal Affairs regulations on taking driving license exams. From April 1, 2024, the department will allow more mistakes to be made during the demonstration of driving skills, guided, as the traffic police explained to Kommersant, by “analysis of the results of practical exams” since March 2021. The draft regulations have also undergone adjustments in terms of compliance with a number of recently adopted laws. In particular, the order contains a direct ban on allowing citizens who evade military conscription to take the exam.

The police department published draft changes to the regulations on taking driving tests (approved by order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs) on regulation.gov.ru. The document is planned to come into force on April 1, 2024.

Perhaps the most anticipated innovation for future drivers will be the expansion of the permissible range of penalty points that a test taker can score during the tests. Today, we would like to remind you that during the practical (“urban”) part of the exam the limit is five penalty points. If it is exceeded, the test is considered failed. Thus, for the fact that a candidate driver, if necessary, did not turn on the turn signal or did not use the rear-view mirrors, one point is deducted; for violation of parking rules – three points. In case of more serious violations, for example, driving into oncoming traffic, five points are awarded immediately, and the exam is immediately stopped.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs proposes to give subjects more chances – the permissible fine limit will be raised to seven points.

“Taking into account the analysis of the results of practical exams since the entry into force of the current regulations (from March 1, 2021), the project softens the requirements for candidates,” the State Traffic Inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia explained to Kommersant. Until March 1, 2021, we remind you that novice drivers had to demonstrate driving skills on the “site” and in the “city”. At the same time, on each test it was possible to receive five penalty points, that is, a total of ten. After the reform to combine exams, the limit was halved, which significantly complicated the conditions for passing exams, representatives of driving schools indicated. This is confirmed by statistics: today no more than 10–12% pass the “city” exam the first time, whereas before the reform it was twice as many.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs intends to allow representatives of driving schools to sit in the passenger seat behind the backup pedals during the exam. Today this place is occupied by a traffic police examiner.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs intends to allow representatives of driving schools to sit in the passenger seat behind the backup pedals during the exam. Today this place is occupied by a traffic police examiner. The restriction was introduced in 2021, which also caused a lot of criticism from representatives of educational organizations – the norm was even the subject of consideration in the Supreme Court.

The fact is that during the exams, as a rule, vehicles of driving schools are used, the representative of which (often the owner of the training car) cannot intervene in driving if there is a threat of an accident, and the examiners do not have enough skills, according to driving schools.

As part of the exams for category A (motorcycles), the Ministry of Internal Affairs is going to abandon the exercise “Parking a vehicle and leaving a parking space.” This test requires you to first pull into a parking space and then manually roll the motorcycle into a nearby “virtual” box. After numerous requests from representatives of the instructor community, according to Kommersant, it was decided to replace this test with the “Rut Board” exercise, which is more “useful” from the point of view of skills development (it was mandatory until 2016). The candidate is required to drive 10 m along an artificial track and stop before the Stop line, engaging neutral gear.

Some other changes to the regulations resulted from recently adopted federal laws. For example, a rule prohibiting those evading conscription into the armed forces from obtaining a driver’s license is included in the so-called law on electronic subpoenas, adopted by the State Duma in April. The procedure for exchanging driver’s licenses is also being clarified: from April 1, 2024, a law will come into force obliging foreigners with national licenses to exchange them for Russian ones within a year after receiving a residence permit or Russian passport.

The President of the Interregional Association of Driving Schools Tatyana Shutyleva, supporting the project, drew attention to the new ban on allowing citizens who have been trained in a driving school, the educational and material base of which has not been checked by the traffic police (the organization must have a corresponding conclusion), to take exams.

This, the expert believes, will seriously limit the capabilities of “gray” educational organizations, which in fact do not have any sites, classrooms, or teachers, which allows them to dump on the market by teaching shorter, cheaper programs. The expert also called the decision to increase the maximum number of penalty points to seven “fair”, noting that the list of errors themselves and the points assigned for them does not change.

According to the logic of combining exams, the number of points could be increased to ten, says Elena Zaitseva, president of the National Union of Associations of Driving Schools. This issue remains controversial. The traffic police, according to Kommersant, plans to analyze the practice after the introduction of the new regulations – it is possible that the limit will be raised.

Ivan Buranov