The State Duma introduced fines for scooter drivers and amendments for other drivers

A group of senators introduced amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses to the State Duma, strengthening sanctions for violators on electric scooters and other SIM. Thus, a fine of 20–30 thousand rubles is introduced. for driving while intoxicated, 2–3 thousand rubles for driving together in one vehicle, 2–2.5 thousand rubles for obstructing pedestrians on the sidewalk. “Kommersant” noticed that in the package with the mentioned amendments, changes are being made that also affect motorists. The regions will be given the authority to independently, without the traffic police, fine drivers for running red lights, parking at pedestrian crossings, places for the disabled and bus stops.

Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses, tightening the liability for users of electric scooters and other SIMs, were submitted to the State Duma yesterday by senators Andrei Klishas, ​​Artem Sheikin, Irina Rukavishnikova and Vladimir Poletaev. Mr. Sheikin reported this to TASS yesterday. The draft amendments did not appear in the State Duma database yesterday, but Kommersant got acquainted with their contents.

Let us remind you that today there are no special fines for SIM users – in the code they are classified in the category “other traffic participants”. Sanctions in this case vary from 500 to 1.5 thousand rubles. Parliamentarians proposed introducing separate charges: 20-30 thousand rubles – for driving a SIM card while drunk and refusing a medical examination; 10-15 thousand rubles – for causing harm to health of moderate severity in an accident; 0.5–5 thousand rubles—for exceeding the permitted speed (the amount of the fine depends on the degree of excess); 2-3 thousand rubles – for riding an electric scooter with two or three people. Fine of 2–2.5 thousand rubles. will be applied for obstructing pedestrians on a sidewalk or pedestrian area. Punishment in the amount of 4–5 thousand rubles. provided for leaving an accident by the driver of an electric scooter, 500–800 rubles for the SIM user’s refusal to stop at the request of a police officer.

The need to strengthen sanctions has been discussed for several years, ever since the fleet of private and kick-sharing mobile vehicles began to rapidly expand. Back in August 2023, Artem Sheikin announced that he had prepared a corresponding bill. The document was sent to the government, where it was finalized in several stages. In the latest review, the Cabinet of Ministers noted that “the concept of the bill deserves attention,” noting that the designed trains will need to be correlated with traffic regulations. The point is probably that in the current rules for SIM users there is no, for example, a direct obligation to undergo an examination and stop at the request of the police. The Ministry of Transport is already working on amendments to the traffic rules introducing additional regulation of SIM, they should be ready by November 1. The government also expressed its desire to “work out” methods for recording new offenses in advance.

According to the government plan, the bill must be adopted before July 1. On April 18, clarifying amendments (probably to be introduced at the second reading stage) will be discussed during a round table in the Federation Council. State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin recently proposed that kick-sharing operators also be punished with fines. It is possible that this idea will also be reflected in the revised version. There are alternative amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses from the Moscow City Duma, introduced in February, but they have so far been left without movement.

It will be difficult to administer violations, warned Alexander Kholodov, a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, until the issue of fixation is resolved. “If a drunk man drives a SIM, the police will run after him, or what? — he gives an example. “There are no mandatory numbers either.” “Who will catch? What is the permissible degree of intoxication and where is it prescribed? – supported the editor-in-chief of the magazine “Behind the Wheel” Maxim Kadakov. – I ran over a pedestrian’s foot – is this an accident?

Whoosn points out that the amendments do not introduce new rules, they simply increase responsibility. “According to our data, more than 99% of all trips occur without any violations, so the innovations will not affect the overwhelming number of service users,” the company believes. The Moscow Department of Transport refrained from commenting yesterday.

According to the bill, some of the new trains will be administered by the regions independently, without the participation of the traffic police. We are talking, in particular, about SIM users exceeding the established speed and driving together in one vehicle (most likely, cameras will be used for this). At the same time, Kommersant noted that the list of trains handed over to subjects also included traditional “driving” violations, including running a red light, parking at a pedestrian crossing, a disabled spot, or a bus stop. Today, only the traffic police can fine you for this. It was not possible to find out yesterday how these norms ended up in the bill, and the explanatory note does not say anything about this.

We would like to remind you that attempts to transfer to the regions the powers to fix various vehicles (in addition to parking under a prohibitory sign – they have already been transferred to Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sevastopol) have been made since 2015. Lobbyists for this initiative insisted that the traffic police were unable to cope with the registration of a large number of violations. Opponents feared that the result would be a sharp increase in the number of fines, including erroneous ones. The government of the Russian Federation, at the instigation of the Moscow authorities, even submitted a corresponding bill to the State Duma, which, however, was never adopted.

Ivan Buranov