Toll roads are filled with new fines – Newspaper Kommersant No. 41 (7486) of 03/13/2023

The subjects of the federation will be able to introduce their own fines for non-payment of travel on regional roads. The relevant bill was submitted to the State Duma by the government of the Russian Federation. We are talking, in particular, about such routes as the Moscow High-Speed ​​Diameter, the northern understudy of Kutuzovsky Prospekt, the Mytishchi Chord, the Novolytkarinsky Highway, the bypass of Khabarovsk, etc. The amount of regional sanctions is still unknown. A fine of 1.5–5 thousand rubles. will remain on the federal highways administered by the state company Avtodor – M-1, M-4, TsKAD, M-12 and others.

The government bill submitted to the State Duma (developed by the Ministry of Transport) contains amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses. Their essence boils down to the fact that the current fine for driving on toll roads is 1.5 thousand rubles. for passenger cars and 5 thousand rubles. for trucks and buses – will be charged only for travel on federal toll roads (M-1, M-4, M-3, TsKAD, M-12, etc.).

For non-payment of travel on roads of regional, intermunicipal and local significance, sanctions will be imposed on violators, which will be indicated in regional legislation.

The amount of the new fines is currently unknown. However, they can be paid with a 50% discount within 20 days. Regional authorities will be able to use “means of photo and video recording” when administering offenses on their roads, the explanatory note says.

Recall that Article 12.21.4, which is being amended, was introduced into the Code of Administrative Offenses in 2020. The norm was needed to combat violators of travel along the Central Ring Road, where for the first time in Russia a barrier-free free-flow payment system was used (there are no barriers on the highway). Violations related to unpaid travel on the Central Ring Road are administered by Rostransnadzor. A similar system operates on the M-12 Vostok highway, sections of which in the Moscow and Vladimir regions are already open to traffic. In September, the authorities promise to launch it from Moscow to Arzamas, at the end of the year – to Kazan.

Meanwhile, over the past three years, new regional toll roads have begun to appear in Russia. The previously existing “payers” in the Pskov region and St. Petersburg were supplemented by the Moscow High-Speed ​​Diameter (MSD), which has been operating in a paid mode since January 2023 for transit cars, and a paid bypass of Khabarovsk, opened for traffic in July 2022. Now on all these routes the fine provided for by the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation is applied. By the end of the year, the Moscow mayor’s office promises to complete the construction and open the northern understudy of Kutuzovsky Prospekt and the southern section of the MSD to traffic – there will also be paid travel. The Moscow region, in turn, is building the toll Mytishchinskaya chord (the old name of the route is Vinogradovo-Boltino-Tarasovka, it will open in 2024) and Novolytkarinsky Highway (2024). In 2024, the authorities promise to begin construction of a paid understudy of the Yegoryevskoye Highway. If the State Duma adopts government amendments, the Moscow City Duma and Moscow Regional Duma will be able to pass laws on fines for non-payment of travel on these roads. The head of the commission on legislation of the Moscow City Duma, Alexander Semennikov, previously called it “logical” to establish fines for unpaid travel on MSD in the capital’s legislation.

“An analysis of law enforcement practice reflects the need to create conditions that allow the constituent entities of the Russian Federation to establish liability for failure to fulfill the obligation to pay tolls on toll roads of regional, intermunicipal and local significance, sections of such roads,” the explanatory note to the amendments says. The law is also needed to “settle the issue” of the distribution of the collected amounts from fines: now the money goes to the federal budget, with the adoption of local laws, the funds will fill the regional budgets.

Interestingly, the government bill does not mention private toll roads: this is the status of the Western High-Speed ​​Diameter (WHSD) in St. Petersburg.

According to Kommersant’s information, if the amendments are adopted in this form, the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg will not be able to adopt a rule on fines for defaulters on the WHSD. Let us recall that there are barriers on this road, however, there have been cases when cars were attached close to the cars moving in front when passing through the toll plaza and passed for free.

The government bill has been sent to the Duma Committee on State Construction and Legislation. When it will be considered, it is not known, the expected date of entry into force of the amendments is scheduled for March 1, 2024.

Ivan Buranov