PENALTY POINTS FOR VIOLATION OF ROAD TRAFFIC RULES: THE RELEVANT BILL WAS REGISTERED IN THE VERKHOVNA RADA
Preventive measures against offending drivers on the roads may increase: following the common European practice, Ukraine plans to introduce a system of penalty points for the most common types of violations of traffic rules.
The relevant bill №6502 of 05.01.2022 has already been registered in the Parliament.
The document defines the list of offenses for which the driver will receive penalty points. In particular:
1 point – for not wearing a seat belt or transporting children without a car seat;
2 points – for driving a faulty vehicle with hidden numbers, transporting children without a car seat (repeatedly), driving at a prohibited traffic light signal, exceeding the set speed by more than 20 km / h (except for violations recorded in automatic mode);
3 points – for violation of traffic rules and stopping on the lane for route vehicles, driving a faulty vehicle used to provide passenger services;
5 points – for exceeding the speed limit by more than 50 km / h or creating an emergency situation.
2 points – for driving a faulty vehicle with hidden numbers, transporting children without a car seat (repeatedly), driving at a prohibited traffic light signal, exceeding the set speed by more than 20 km / h (except for violations recorded in automatic mode);
3 points – for violation of traffic rules and stopping on the lane for route vehicles, driving a faulty vehicle used to provide passenger services;
5 points – for exceeding the speed limit by more than 50 km / h or creating an emergency situation.
If a driver receives 12 or more points during the year (and a newcomer who received a license less than a year ago – 8 or more points), the police will decide to suspend his driver’s license.
It will be possible to resume it only after re-taking the theoretical and practical exams. Points will be reset annually. A fine of UAH 3,400 is imposed on a person whose driving license has been suspended for driving a vehicle.
The accumulation of penalty points, according to the drafters of the bill, will encourage drivers to avoid repeated systematic violations. Therefore, the mechanism will prevent the number of accidents, because the second time the driver will be more careful behind the wheel; to weed out the wicked and vicious violators, for they will be deprived of their rights, albeit temporarily; change the behavior of drivers, proper compliance with traffic rules which will gradually become a useful habit.
This practice has been around in Europe for a long time. Differing only in options that are attractive to a country, they still have one thing in common: penalty points do not replace a fine, but become an additional punishment. The effectiveness of this mechanism has been proven: according to the European Transport Commission, only in the first year after the introduction of the penalty point system the number of accidents decreased by 1.4% in Ireland, 3.2% in Italy, 7% in France, 7.6% in Spain, 14% in Denmark, compared to the year before their introduction.
Time will tell whether such an initiative will take root in Ukraine. It will be recalled that an average of 9 people die in road accidents in the country every day.
The most common traffic violations, according to the National Police of Ukraine, are exceeding the speed limit, violating the rules of maneuvering and passing intersections, not following the distance, drunk driving.
