The Prosecutor General’s Office will check the installation sites of traffic cameras throughout Russia

The General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation announced a joint large-scale audit with the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate of the installation sites of traffic cameras throughout Russia to exclude “the use of photo-video recording systems for purposes other than their intended purpose.” Relevant instructions have been sent to regional prosecutors. Almost 30 thousand devices are subject to verification.

The Prosecutor General’s Office yesterday announced the results of an inspection carried out in the country of photo-video recording systems for traffic violations. “Thanks to the intervention of the prosecutor’s office in a number of regions, citizens were released from punishment imposed due to incorrect configuration of the system,” the supervisory agency reported. “For example, in the Saratov region, due to the improper operation of the complex for automatic recording of violations, almost 2 thousand illegal orders to attract to responsibility. At the same time, due to poor-quality photographic materials produced by the system, about 3 thousand violators, on the contrary, escaped punishment.” The department did not disclose to what period the violations relate, as well as any other additional details.

“Measures were taken in connection with the theft of budget funds allocated for maintenance and miscalculations in procurement,” continued the Prosecutor General’s Office. “For example, in the Voronezh region, the director of a contracting organization involved in the theft of 19 million rubles was convicted. budget funds allocated for the maintenance of systems, damages have been recovered. For failure to fulfill nine contracts for the installation and commissioning of automatic fixation systems in the Novosibirsk region, on the initiative of the prosecutor’s office, the deputy director of the contracting organization was disqualified, another director was held accountable in the form of a fine in the amount of 1.8 million rubles.”

Based on the results of the inspections, the Prosecutor General’s Office instructed regional prosecutors, together with the traffic police, to conduct an audit of the locations of the cameras in 2024. The inspection will be carried out “in order to exclude cases of use of photo-video recording systems for purposes other than their intended purpose,” the supervisory agency said in a statement yesterday. According to the traffic police, the total number of photo and video recording systems on the roads in 2023 increased by 8.4% – now there are 29.2 thousand; 25.2 thousand of them are stationary, 3.1 thousand are mobile, 900 are mobile. More than 220 million administrative fines were issued using cameras last year, 20% more than the year before.

The Prosecutor General’s Office regularly reveals violations in the use of complexes. Based on the results of an inspection carried out in 2021, as Kommersant reported, the department came to the conclusion that the complexes are often used not to prevent violations, but in order to generate “additional income for regional authorities and entrepreneurs.” In October 2022, the head of the traffic police, Mikhail Chernikov, also criticized the “total” expansion of photo and video recording systems; “punishment should not be the basis,” he said. The Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation spoke about an audit of camera installation sites back in 2019, but in fact no systemic inspection was carried out.

An expert on violation recording systems, Grigory Shukhman, suggests that a new check by the prosecutor’s office can be carried out, at a minimum, to ensure that the locations of the complexes correspond to the location of accident centers. Violations that lead to erroneous fines may be due to incorrect hardware settings (for example, an incorrect camera angle) or software failures, says Popular Front security expert Katerina Solovyova. “One of the prosecutor’s methods of response is to appeal and cancel the imposed fine through the court,” she explains. “Unfortunately, regional prosecutors’ offices rarely use this tool, because in this case they have to return the money to the plaintiff, and this is a complex procedure.” In general, says Katerina Solovyova, the Prosecutor General’s Office should make it a practice to annually check photo and video recording systems, taking into account the growing number of fines, since this is potentially a “socially explosive topic.”

“The use of complexes is regulated by many standards, while some key regulatory documents are advisory in nature,” the Urbantech group of companies told Kommersant (implements and maintains photo recording systems in a number of regions). “As a result, not all regions use them in their work.” , allowing liberties in the interpretation and use of the photo and video recording systems themselves. This negatively affects not only the quality of operation of the complexes, but also the level of traffic safety.” The company recalled that on September 1, a law will come into force that describes new requirements for the installation sites of the complexes (“Kommersant” spoke about this document): “It is logical that in this regard, an audit of the locations of photo-video recording complexes will be carried out in all regions.” .

In the Moscow data center, commenting on the inspection of the Prosecutor General’s Office, they told Kommersant that they are already strictly following “all the requirements regarding the use of automatic photo recording.” “Each installation site of the complex in Moscow is considered at a joint meeting with the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate, a passport is prepared for each object and a multi-stage approval procedure is carried out,” the center said. “As a matter of priority, cameras appear in places where accidents occurred. We install cameras only if we are sure that they will really improve security.” The Ministry of Transport of the Moscow Region also says that all installation and relocation locations of the complexes are determined by the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate, the Ministry of Transport of the Moscow Region, as well as road owners, based on the accident rate.

Ivan Buranov