Galina Antyufeeva, “Strict measures will be applied to stop the desire to violate”

The President of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic initiated amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses. Vadim Krasnoselsky proposed to introduce a new type of punishment for drivers who violate the rules of the road – the accrual of demerit points in addition to the fine. The law-in-draft was considered in the first reading in the course of the plenary session. The deputies emphasized that new measures are needed to deal with drivers who systematically violate traffic rules. 100000 protocols were drawn up, 50000 of which were repeated last year. However, parliamentarians consider that a balanced approach is needed. Therefore, the deputies asked questions regarding the implementation in practice of a possible norm on a point system in the course of the plenary session. Negative moments from the action of such an innovation were voiced. For example, the law-in-draft proposed to deprive a driver's license for 1 year if there are 20 or more points. The deputies noted that the reason for the violation of the rules can be not only the indiscipline of the driver, but also the imperfection of the road infrastructure.

Chairman of the Supreme Council Alexander Korshunov drew attention to the fact that traffic violations are detected not only by traffic militia inspectors, but also by the Safe City video surveillance cameras. In this case, the violation may be imposed not on the driver who was driving, but on the car and on the owner, accordingly. Therefore, the speaker proposed to work on the norms of the Code of Administrative Offenses to tighten penalties for repeated offenses, and not follow the path of introducing a point system. In addition, penalty points can be regarded as a double punishment, since they will be awarded in addition to the fine. The Committee on Legislation noted that in 1997 the Constitutional Court of Russia ruled the penal point system as unconstitutional, since no one can be punished twice for the same crime.

The submitted law-in-draft in the process of voting did not receive a sufficient number of votes of deputies and was not adopted. The parliamentarians emphasized at the same time that for drivers who systematically violate traffic rules, increased administrative responsibility should be established.

The Committee on legislation, protection of the rights and freedoms of citizens is working on a new law-in-draft aimed at combating malicious violators of the rules on the roads. The document will be submitted for consideration by the Supreme Council in the near future.