Dangerous "checkers": more than half of cabs drive with violations
Almost 200 cab cars inspected and seven dozen protocols for various violations. Disregard for seat belts, lack of diagnostic cards, unapproved changes to the design of vehicles - this is by no means a complete list of misdemeanors recorded by traffic inspectors and employees of the regional administrative and transport control department. Izvestia" found out how the observance of traffic rules and requirements for passenger transportation by cab drivers is controlled in the Moscow region.
Cooperation and interaction
A busy Kashirskoye highway in the Moscow Region. Several traffic police crews take a position where the road widens, fence one of the lanes with cones and start stopping all passing cab cars. A whistle, a wave of the baton - and cars with "checkers" on their sides one by one turn to the curb.
If in other raids of State Automobile Inspectorate most often on communication of patrolmen with drivers takes a couple of minutes, the check of cab takes a little more time. After all, police officers carry out such control and preventive measures together with employees of the Department of Regional Administrative and Transport Control (URATC) of the Ministry of Transport and Road Infrastructure of the Moscow Region: having checked the driver on their line, the traffic police pass him to their colleagues from the Ministry of Transport.
- We can only record violations of traffic rules committed by cab drivers and passengers. To draw up administrative materials for other violations of the rules of passenger transportation employees of the State Automobile Inspectorate have no right. Therefore, such activities are carried out in conjunction with other regulatory agencies, whose employees are authorized to identify and registration of relevant offenses, - told "Izvestia" head of the traffic police department of the UMVD of Russia in the urban district of Domodedovo Lieutenant Colonel of Police Sergei Kuzmin.
As an example, he cited the situation with OSGOP policies, which since September 1 of last year are mandatory for cabs. This insurance is not specified in the traffic rules, so traffic inspectors have no authority to control its availability for cab drivers. But the employees of the Department of URATK of the Ministry of Transport of the Moscow region can check it, explained the head of the Domodedovo State Automobile Inspectorate. By the way, all of almost two hundred stopped cab drivers had this insurance.
A queue of violators
A few minutes for a double check, wishing a happy journey to drivers and passengers, and the traffic inspector stops the next "checkers". Nevertheless, very quickly the area, fenced off by police officers, is filled with cab cars. Ten minutes have not passed, and to the inspector, who draws up protocols in the patrol car, there is already a queue of violators.
- Two of them were driving unbuckled, one of them did not have a valid diagnostic card confirming the passing of technical inspection, and the other one was digging into his phone while driving," explained the inspectors.
One of the stopped drivers went past the traffic police car into the official car of the URATC inspectors. Illegal carrier, no MTPL insurance?
- No, the carrier is legal, he is listed in the database. He's got MTPL, too. But the car in the cab registry near Moscow does not meet the requirements for such vehicles. You see, there are no "checkers" on board? And according to the law, they must be, as well as a "light" on the roof. It may not be the most significant violation, but it's still a violation," explained an employee of the URATC of the Moscow Region Ministry of Transportation.
Some time later, he took another cab driver to the service car: he did not have the necessary information about the transportation company and the number of the entry in the regional register in the car's interior.
Illegals in messengers
According to employees of the department of regional administrative and transport control of the Ministry of Transport and Road Infrastructure of the Moscow region, illegal cab carriers - the so-called bombilas - remain a serious problem. And if before they used to pick up passengers voting on the roadside, now such voting has moved to an electronic format: groups and chat rooms where you can order a "cab" have appeared in messengers.
- Most illegal carriers work in these chat rooms and groups. The probability of running into an illegal carrier by ordering a car through a cab aggregator application is much lower. They can only be caught red-handed, as they say, with the help of planted passengers, which are our employees. Otherwise, it is almost impossible to prove that the transportation was carried out on a paid basis: when checking the passengers of such "cabs" turn out to be alleged friends or relatives, - said the representative of URATC of the Ministry of Transport of the Moscow region.
In our raid the planted passengers also took part, but it was not possible to identify illegal carriers that day. According to the inspectors, the information that inspections are being conducted is quickly disseminated among cab drivers. That's why illegals, as a rule, go to the bottom.
However, the previous day in Khimki, the traffic inspectors and employees of the URATC managed to apprehend such an illegal carrier, the Moscow Region State Automobile Inspectorate said.
- The inspector under the guise of an ordinary passenger ordered a car to the airport. During the trip it turned out that the driver had no authorization for this activity. Moreover, the "cab driver" suspected that the passenger was a checker and did not stop at the request of traffic police inspectors. It was possible to detain him only during the chase, - told "Izvestia" in the propaganda department of the State Automobile Inspectorate of the Moscow region.
In total, for five days, during which the event "Taxi" was held in the Moscow region, traffic inspectors and employees of the URATC were identified 42 carriers who carried passengers without a license, in violation of the requirements of permits, were not IE or self-employed (this is a mandatory requirement for cab drivers), reported in the Moscow Region State Automobile Inspectorate.
A matter of technology
In addition to the standard check of documents and their verification with electronic databases, traffic inspectors demand to open the trunk of the car and scrutinize not only its contents, but also the "underground" - a niche for a spare tire. Many cab drivers queue up to the patrol car after such checks.
- Many cab cars have been converted to run on gas. Installation of gas-balloon equipment (GBO) requires mandatory registration of these changes in the State Automobile Inspectorate on the basis of the laboratory's conclusion that such modifications are safe. In this case, a note is made in the car documents that the gas-cylinder equipment has been installed. Practice shows that often cab drivers do not agree on these changes, - said Sergei Kuzmin.
He emphasized that in this case, along with a 500-ruble fine, the cab driver receives a prescription, according to which within ten days he must submit to the State Automobile Inspectorate a conclusion confirming the safety of the installation of gas-cooled equipment, and make the appropriate changes to the documents on the car. Otherwise, the vehicle registration can be canceled, he reminded.
At some point, the attention of police officers is attracted by a Hyundai Solaris. In addition to the standard checks of documents and the trunk, the inspectors decide to scrutinize the technical condition of the car. A metal rod with sliding mounts and a display is mounted on the steering wheel of the car, from which wires run to sensors that are mounted on the front wheels.
- This is a backlash meter: with its help the inspectors of the technical supervision department check whether the backlash of the steering is not exceeded, - explained Sergey Kuzmin.
The check showed that the backlash is more than within the norms. The device showed a deviation of 1%, while the permitted value for passenger cars is 10%. Auto inspectors have no claims to the cab driver, he can drive on.
City inspections
- How much longer? I'm already late! - indignant passenger of one of the drivers, to whom the protocol is written out. - What are you, other cars are not enough - you stop cabs?!
- Young lady, let's calm down! We check cabs first of all for your own safety. The car you were driving didn't pass the inspection, even though it's mandatory twice a year for cabs. Who can guarantee that its brakes won't fail or its tire won't fall off? You can make a new order: another car will arrive in a couple of minutes," the traffic inspector reassures her.
The passenger agrees with the policeman's arguments and leaves in five minutes.
Dissatisfied passengers during such events are a common phenomenon, admits Sergei Kuzmin. Therefore, traffic policemen are advised first of all to try to extinguish potential conflict and explain to indignant cab clients that they stopped the driver not because of their whim, but for the sake of their own safety.
- We never organize such raids in a "clear field": they take place in the city limits. If for one reason or another the trip is interrupted, passengers have the opportunity to quickly continue it by making a new order. At the same time, if the inspectors detect any violation and realize that a protocol will be drawn up, they offer the driver to complete the order himself, so that the client does not have to lose his money," Lieutenant Colonel of Police Sergei Kuzmin, head of the traffic police department of the Department of State Automobile Inspection of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Domodedovo urban district, told Izvestia.
Every second is a violator
It is quite difficult to single out any particular traffic rules violations, characteristic for cab drivers, said Sergei Kuzmin. As a rule, they commit the same offenses as ordinary motorists.
- One of the common violations is ignoring the requirement of mandatory use of seat belts, both by drivers and passengers. Not uncommon and speeding, violation of the rules of transportation of children, very often cab drivers are distracted by the phone - usually when the order comes or when looking for a way on the navigator. By the way, in practice, it is the distraction of the driver's attention on the smartphone that is one of the main or concomitant causes of accidents involving cabs," he said.
Only in the urban district of Domodedovo for one day traffic inspectors and employees of the URATC were checked almost 200 cab cars. At the same time in respect of 70 drivers (that is almost every third stopped cab driver) were drawn up administrative materials for one or another violation. For example, 18 times fines were issued for unbuckled belts, 12 protocols - for improper parking, four cars were found to have technical defects and not properly registered changes to the vehicle design, three times the fact of carrying children in a cab without a child seat was recorded.
And in general for five days of the event "Taxi" in the Moscow region more than 5.8 thousand cars with "checkers" were checked, and every second cab driver turned out to be "with a sin" - traffic inspectors and employees of the URATK of the Ministry of Transport of the Moscow region 3052 administrative materials were drawn up, and 151 cab cars were evacuated to the impound lot.
The State Automobile Inspectorate of the Moscow region recognizes that the problem with compliance with traffic rules and rules of passenger transportation in cabs remains difficult. Therefore, such inspections will continue, the agency emphasizes.
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