More traffic cameras planned for Moscow after another fatal crash

Getting tough on drunk driving

by Yulia Ponomareva at 15/10/2012 21:09

In the wake of high-profile road accidents in Moscow, United Russia is pushing ahead with a tougher drunk driving bill.

On Monday, representatives of United Russia, which holds the absolute majority in Russia’s parliament, confirmed that the party is moving ahead with its set of amendments toughening the DWI legislation.

In a country where 31 percent of the population mistrusts the police, according to Levada, an independent polling agency, the ruling party intends to raise the maximum fine for driving while intoxicated from the present 5,000 rubles ($161) to 50,000 rubles ($1,613).

A drunk driver will be deprived of his or her license for up to three years, while currently this period may not exceed two years.

The maximum sentence a drunk driver may receive for killing one person will likely be increased from seven to ten years – and from nine to 20 years if two or more people have been killed.

Yet observers worry that without a sweeping anti-corruption reform targeting traffic police this measure is certain to have one effect – an uptick in bribe rates.

United Russia has also come under criticism for retaining the current provision that prohibits any amount of alcohol in a driver’s blood, thus ignoring the fact that due to specifics of metabolism some people always have a certain amount of alcohol in their blood and that concentration of alcohol rises if you drink certain dairy products.

The law that qualifies any amount of alcohol in the blood as an indication of intoxication was introduced in July 2010 on the initiative of then-President Dmitry Medvedev, who suggested abolishing the previous norm that allowed up to 0.3 per mil of blood alcohol.

Two tragedies

The initiative came hot on the heels of two road accidents in Moscow that shocked the country. In late September, a drunk driver killed seven people, including five orphaned children with disabilities, as he smashed into a bus stop.

And last week famous actress Marina Golub, 54, died in a car crash as the Hyundai Getz she rode in collided with a Cadillac whose driver fled the crash scene and later published a video in which he said that he did not want to give himself up. The driver, Alexei Rusakov, said he did not believe in investigators’ impartiality and was “afraid to become a scapegoat.” He was later apprehended.

The Getz driver, who also died in the crash, turned out not to have a driving license at all. In response, Moscow’s Transport Department published a press release warning against using the services of unlicensed cab drivers. And traffic police held a weeklong raid against drunk drivers on the roads.

This week, the government and the Supreme Court will consider the new drunk driving bill.

Yet at the same time, United Russia lawmaker and head of the executive office of President Putin’s Popular Front movement, Vyacheslav Lysakov, was quoted by Interfax on Monday as saying, “I believe that the decision to leave [the clause for] the zero [per mil] is a political mistake.”

At a news conference shortly after Lysakov made his statement, secretary of United Russia’s General Council Sergei Neverov told the journalists that the final decision has not been made on whether to set forth the maximum allowed rate of alcohol concentration in blood.

“We asked our branches to discuss this issue at the regional leve – to collect proposals and reach a consensus,” Neverov was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying.

Andrei Vorobyov, United Russia’s faction leader in the Duma, stated that the Duma “will develop a special mechanism that will rule out the possibility of a mistake while determining the degree of a driver’s intoxication,” RIA Novosti reported.

More traffic cameras planned for Moscow after another fatal crash

by Evgeniya Chaykovskaya at 15/10/2012 19:01

After yet another high-profile car crash where the perpetrator ran a red light, Russian lawmakers have decided to increase punishments for traffic violations.

Moscow police in turn have decided to set up extra cameras at intersections to catch those who cross the stop line when stopping at red lights, Kommersant reported.

The police started setting up cameras on Monday. They plan to use them to clear intersections and reduce jams. Later, the cameras will be adjusted to catch those driving through red lights, head of the Freedom of Choice car owners’ movement, Vyacheslav Lysakov, told Kommersant.

He also suggested increasing the fines from 1,000 rubles for running a red light to 5,000 for repeat offenders or confiscation of licenses.

Blue Buckets movement coordinator Pyotr Shkumatov, however, said that it could become a problem in winter, when snow covers the road markings, and drivers may simply not see the line.

Another problem is some traffic lights that switch from green to red instantaneously, leaving the driver no choice.

Tougher laws

United Russia deputies have prepared a bill increasing punishment for drink-driving and exceeding speed limits.

They propose making the punishment for killing people in a car crash while drunk the same as for murder – 20 years. However, this could mean that it would encourage drivers to flee the scene of the crime and wait until any traces of alcohol have left their blood. This way the punishment would be only seven years, unless they equate leaving the crash site to drink driving.

The deputies are still undecided on whether the acceptable level of alcohol for drivers should be kept at 0 per mil or increased to 0.2 per mil to allow for those who get behind the wheel after taking medicine or drinking kefir.

“There are those who support this decision, and those against it, there is a discussion,” said United Russia council secretary Sergei Neverov. “We asked our regional divisions to discuss this issue on the regional level. We would like to have a fuller picture of what our citizens think,” he told Kommersant.

The last crash

The driver that ran the red light and caused a car crash that killed two people, including a famous Russian actress Marina Golub, was caught on Saturday.

Alexei Rusakov was behind the wheel of his Cadillac when he ran a red light and hit several cars on an intersection on Oct. 9. He then left his car and fled the scene. Two people died.

The police caught him when they called his girlfriend and staged charging her with hiding a wanted person, after hearing of this, Rusakov started to worry and switched on his mobile phone and made a call, which enabled the police to trace him.

The police knew that Rusakov had his phone with him after he made a video, where he said he escaped because he was in shock, panicked and did not trust the police.

Rusakov was charged with violating traffic rules that lead to the death of two or more people and with leaving the injured in danger.

If Rusakov was drunk or under the influence of drugs during the crash, then it was in his interests to escape from the crime scene and wait until the alcohol and drugs, which would be aggravating circumstances, left the blood.

If the police prove that Rusakov was drunk, he could face up to nine years in prison, if not – up to seven. And leaving the victims in danger would only merit a year in prison.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1091