People’s wallets will be regulating their driving behavior

On Sept. 24 the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a law introducing changes aimed at ensuring better safety on the roads. Starting this month, fines for traffic infractions will be 10 times higher.

Fines for speeding in excess of 20 km per hour will cost between 255 and 340 hryvnias, and speeds in excess of 50 km per hour will result in a fine of up to 680 hryvnias. Experts say that this system will help train drivers to observe discipline on the road.

Most experts believe that this system of fines should have been implemented years ago, with the amounts of fines pegged to people’s incomes: the more you earn the higher your fine. But drivers would then be obliged to carry an income statement with them at all times-another kind of red tape that could lead to further abuses.

The State Automobile Inspection Department, part of Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs (DAI MVS) hopes that the new fines will help reduce the number of accidents on Ukraine’s roads, which claim more than 9,000 victims every year. In the last decade, 62,000 people have died on the roads. The Day’s experts discuss whether the high fines will help rein in bad drivers:

Mykhailo BERLIN, the head of the National Association for Traffic Safety:

“The legal measures in the sphere of road safety should be immediately implemented in Ukraine. We should have introduced them five or seven years ago, when there were not so many vehicles. Considering that every year the number of vehicles in Ukraine grows by 30 percent – over 800,000 new car owners have been registered so far this year, and this number may top one million in three years – drivers have no time to practice. They should acquire some experience and driving skills before heading out on the road. Meanwhile, driving schools focus attention mainly on theory.

“According to our data, 27 percent of all car accidents are caused by drivers with less than two years’ driving experience, and 40 percent, by those who have been driving for less than five years. So it is a mistake to think that merely passing a driving test is a guarantee that a driver won’t exhibit dangerous behavior on the road. In fact, after getting a driver’s licence, a new driver enters a stage of heightened risk, during which s/he acquires experience. So higher fines will teach drivers to behave more carefully on the road, at least we hope so.

“Comparing the situation on Ukrainian roads with the situation abroad, the number of car accidents is lower outside Ukraine. This has been achieved thanks to harsher sanctions against drivers. For speeding, European drivers are fined 60 or 70 euros. Until recently, fines in Ukraine were symbolic and were less than 30 hryvnias. Drunk drivers will soon be fined 2,500 hryvnias. In Germany, a driver’s license can be suspended for life. The situation in Ukraine is going to change. Whereas in the past, the fine for violating rules governing driving through intersections or passing was a maximum of 8.50 hryvnias, now it will be 510 hryvnias. Forgetting your license at home will net drivers a hefty fine: instead of a 17-hryvnia fine, they will have to pay 20 times more.

Joop GOOS, the head of International Road Safety:

“The biggest problem for drivers throughout the world is speeding. The UK has a system of demerit points to combat this. As far as I know, this kind of system will soon be operating in Ukraine, but it will have slightly different rules for accumulating points. A UK driver who exceeds the speed limit immediately gets three demerit points, and once he earns 12 points, his driver’s license will be suspended. Drivers can eliminate these demerit points only by retaking the driving test. That is why there are re-education courses for bad drivers. Fifty percent of graduates do not commit traffic infractions anymore.

“Ukraine is implementing a new system of fines in order to reach European standards. Here’s a comparison: whereas in the Netherlands drivers pay between 60 and 70 euros for speeding in excess of 20 km per hour, Ukraine has nearly reached this mark: now the fine is 340 hryvnias. In Europe, drivers face harsher sanctions compared to Ukraine. If a driver is caught twice for exceeding the speed limit, his/her driver’s license will be suspended, and s/he will have to go to a police station to get it back. Once a driver is pulled over twice for driving under the influence of alcohol, his/her driver’s license will be suspended. In order to get it back, drivers have to retake the driving test.

Up to 3,000 people a year die in car accidents in the UK, but this number is three times higher in Ukraine. In order to reduce the number of traffic accidents, the system for training drivers and instructors should be radically changed. We are ready to share our experience with you. For example, in order to get a driver’s licence, British drivers first submit an application to get a temporary license (a learner’s permit). Then they take a driving course, which includes 42 hours of driving practice on 10-11 kilometers of road, and only after that do they receive their permanent documents. New drivers are given five years to acquire driving experience, which means that during this period they have the status of young, inexperienced drivers. But this does not exempt them from liability. We are now working on increasing the fines for traffic infractions, but it would be better if people were more careful and responsible on the road.”

Serhii LEVCHENKO, deputy head of the State Automobile Inspection Department:

“In my opinion, higher fines should not only discipline drivers, but also force them to treat driving in a more responsible way. Now, those who commit driving infractions will have to pay between 170 and 340 hryvnias. The average fine for running a red light, speeding, and other less minor infractions will be between 300 and 400 hryvnias.

If a driver is caught driving under the influence (DUI) several times in one year, s/he will be banned from driving for two or three years (the vehicle will be confiscated as well).

“Another punitive measure will be 50 to 60 hours of community service or administrative arrest for 10 or 15 days. Ac­cor­ding to the new law, traffic infractions will be fined, and driver’s licenses will be confiscated, to be reinstated only after an appearance in court. Only cases of gross and systematic violations punishable by heavy fines will be prosecuted. For example, if twice in one year a driver causes a car accident and leaves his/her car at the scene of an accident, s/he will be fined between 255 and 306 hryvnias (or sentenced to community service or administrative arrest), and will be banned from driving for a 10-year period; the car will also be confiscated.

“An inspector has the right to take away a driver’s licence, add it to the case on administrative violation, and return it after a court hands down its decision. But it won’t be easy for a driver to get his or her license back: depending on the court’s decision, s/he will have to pay a fine or do community service; for example, clean the streets for several days.

We expect that this punitive measure will spark the greatest resistence from drivers, because it is easier for many violators to pay a certain sum than to do community service or serve a term of administrative arrest. Another innovation is that beginner drivers who have just received their driver’s license will face speed restrictions, and their cars will have to carry special signs to let other drivers know that there is an inexperienced driver nearby. Smoking and talking on a cell phone while driving are also banned.

Andrii KHOROLSKY, vice-president of the Automobile Club of Kyiv:

“People’s wallets will be regulating drivers’ behavior after the fine increase. For some people, 200 or 300 hryvnias will be a big fine, for others — not. It would be more appropriate to develop a differentiated system of fines for drivers. For example, in Finland a person who commits a traffic infraction pays a fine in proportion to his or her income. If a person’s income is 1,000 dollars a month, he will pay a $100 fine. Two years ago a foreign businessman paid a $100,000 fine because his income was over 10 million dollars.

“This system of fines is correct, because for a person that earns 10,000 dollars, a fine won’t be a stimulus for not breaking traffic rules. In order to implement this kind of system in our country, we have to fight against all the state structures, which is unreal under the current conditions. Our businessmen will start carrying documents saying that they earn only 1,000 hryvnias. If a person can’t pay the fine and drives a Zaporozhets (although such drivers rarely commit traffic infractions), s/he will face milder sanctions: an administrative arrest or community service. This will be a good lesson for some of them.

“In principle the idea of introducing the new fines is a good one and meets world standards for combating traffic infractions. But again, if you look at our country and our mentality, I doubt this will work efficiently. These kinds of sanctions could have been implemented much earlier. But many other tasks should be resolved, because adopting a law does not mean that it will be efficient. Besides, all necessary conditions should be created so that the law is implemented, but at the moment we don’t know who will monitor the way the law is implemented and the ways to pay fines, because not many people carry 400-500 hryvnias with them.

“But these kinds of sanctions will reduce the number of car accidents. I think that 40 percent of drivers will think twice about speeding. For example, drivers of cars with Belarusian plates in Ukraine as a rule abide by the traffic rules: when it is permissible to drive 90 km per hour, these drivers will drive at this speed. If Belarusians can adapt to these rules, we will too. But it takes time for people to get used to new rules, and the initial shock to these innovations has passed. It took 30-40 years to build Western democracy, whereas we are trying to do this in a decade.”