The phenomenon of “drunk driving”, unfortunately, still refers to the reality of Russian auto-days. Since it is difficult not to notice the fact that drunk driving more and more often leads to accidents and casualties, the government’s reaction was quite logical - in 2014, the president of the Russian Federation signed a law toughening punishment for drunk drivers. Now everyone who is caught driving a car while intoxicated will face more severe consequences of their carelessness than a simple fine.

Drunk driving is dangerous to others

What changed

• First of all, it is worth touching on the topic of the minimum ppm level. To the surprise of some drivers, it was restored to a level of 0.3. But such changes in the legislation do not mean at all that it is now possible to arrange a tasting of alcoholic beverages before going to the motorway. The essence of this initiative is that the driver who was caught drunk behind the wheel can be easily distinguished from the owners of cars with a special metabolism or those who take alcohol-containing drugs. This is a very important nuance, since many drugs contain alcohol and the driver, who takes them, according to the old norms, could easily have been punished for driving while intoxicated.

Now such errors, if they occur, in extremely rare cases.

• As for the size of the fines, they have also changed. Now the minimum amount that the driver will have to pay is 500 rubles. This means that any fine from the category of 300-400 rubles. automatically translates to a level of 500 units. But the maximum punishment of a driver driving a drunk vehicle, according to changes adopted in 2014, can reach 50 thousand rubles. For comparison, before the highest fine was equal to 30 thousand.
• But these measures impact on drunk car owners are not limited. Those citizens who in 2014 traffic police officers will stop for drunk driving and record that such violations were previously, in addition to paying a fine of 200-300 thousand rubles will have to prepare for criminal liability (imprisonment for up to 2 years).

Video about tightening the law:

About penalties

Referring to the situation of the updated fines in more detail, you can describe it as follows: if the driver was stopped and recorded for the first time 0.3 or more ppm of alcohol in the blood, the owner of the car pays a fine of 50 thousand and says goodbye to their rights for a period of 1 , 5 to 2 years. But in the event that a guilty citizen some time later fell for drunk driving again, he could be deprived of his liberty, determined for correctional work or other severe sanctions.

In 2014, everyone will also strictly refer to the resolute refusal of the driver from a medical examination of his condition. If such a refusal takes place, the driver is recognized by default as drunk, which means a penalty for drunk driving and deprivation of rights for a period of one and a half years.

Those who fell behind the wheel without a license, regardless of the reason for their absence (did not receive or were deprived), will face administrative arrest if they refuse to take a medical examination. If the arrest cannot be applied, a fine of 50 thousand rubles will be imposed. Also, 2014 brought the threat of loss of liberty or correctional work to those owners of cars who refused a medical examination two times in a row.

Accidents often occur because of drunk drivers

And in the new year, a tricky trick, the essence of which is to drink an alcoholic drink after the car stops, will not work. And the driver’s assurances that he didn’t drink before his car was stopped would not help. Punishment in the form of criminal liability will be enforced. It is also important to know that the driver, hiding from the accident scene, by default will be defined as the owner of the car, driving a vehicle while intoxicated.

Since 2014, harsh measures are waiting for those who have decided to drive drunk without a driver's license. Punishing such behavior will be imprisonment. Such harsh measures are due to the fact that people who do not have the right to drive a car, being behind the wheel of a car, initially pose a threat to the lives of pedestrians and other drivers, and even more so when they are intoxicated. Therefore, if the DPS officers stopped the car, which was driven by the drunk driver, an irresponsible road conqueror cannot get off with one fine.

Vyacheslav Lysakov, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building, explains the tightening of measures to curb drunk driving by the fact that accidents caused by a drunk driver behind the wheel, as a rule, take the lives of 5-10 people. Of course, these figures can not go unnoticed.

Drunk driver may face imprisonment

Money will not save

Changes in the automobile legal field will become radical for those drivers who, by virtue of their high financial status, are not afraid to pay a fine if, after an active holiday, they are stopped by DPS officers. This year, the rich and drunk will not be able to get off with the so-called reconciliation of the parties in the event of an accident due to their fault.

Previously, in the tragic outcome of an accident, the culprit of which was a drunk driver, the claims of the relatives of the injured or the driver himself could be satisfied by monetary compensation. If the relatives of the deceased or the surviving owner himself agreed to this option, then all the charges were dropped from the person responsible for the accident, and he avoided criminal liability. But from 2014 everything will be different.

Now, when the driver was driving after drinking alcoholic beverages, and his driving was the cause of an accident, regardless of the reaction of the injured party, he will be tried. As for the compensation of material and moral damage, since 2014 the relatives of the deceased driver, who was not the cause of the accident, may file a lawsuit and receive an amount sometimes even exceeding compensation in case of “reconciliation of the parties”.

Drunk Driver

Thus, on the part of the authorities, a more literate and active approach to the punishment system itself is evident, the result of which, after recent changes, was the toughening of measures to influence those who are drunk. It remains to be hoped that such innovations will help correct the difficult situation on Russian roads.