Adventures with electronics: fines for trucks may be reviewed in Russia
In Russia, the number of fines for non-payment of trucks on the roads in the Platon system has increased dramatically. In addition, the work of automatic weight and size control points causes serious complaints from transport companies. Due to inconsistencies in legislation, some types of activities directly related to road safety are actually in the "gray zone", market participants are responsible. The problems of cargo carriers and ways to solve them were discussed by deputies, representatives of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation and business together with experts in the State Duma. The details are in the Izvestia article.
Pay for the Plato
Russian cargo carriers face a number of serious problems related to the operation of the Platon system (toll for trucks weighing more than 12 tons — Izvestia) and automatic weight and size control points (APVGK). This was stated by Stanislav Naumov, First Deputy Chairman of the LDPR Economic Council, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, during a round table held in the lower house of Parliament.
According to Olga Fedotkina, executive Director of the National Union of Experts in the Field of Transport and Logistics, one of the most serious problems in recent years has been a sharp increase in the number of fines for non-payment of trucks on highways in the Platon system. This is largely due to the impact of electronic warfare (EW) systems on fare control points.
— Now the share of fines due to the effects of electronic warfare on both the control points themselves and on the on-board devices in trucks is 10-12%, while before their share did not exceed 4%, — she said.
Due to the effects of electronic warfare, the system believes that the on-board device in the car is not working, or indicates that the car is in a completely different location. At the same time, the driver cannot recognize that the Plato device in the truck cabin is not working correctly: the display on it indicates that the device is functional. However, the truck owner receives a fine, Olga Fedotkina notes.
— In some cases, in order to arrive at a factory located near the free zone, a convoy of trucks has to be accompanied by a car with an electronic warfare system enabled to protect against drones. Obviously, in this case, there may be serious disruptions in the work of Plato," she stressed.
Similar problems arise for bona fide carriers who find themselves next to the trucks of those who fundamentally do not want to pay for the Platon system and install special "jammers" on the car that block the operation of the on-board device not only in their car, but also in a neighbor down the stream, Olga Fedotkina notes.
The Platon system cannot recognize on which car the on-board device is really "jammed", and who fell under the action of such a "jammer" accidentally, just by being nearby, confirmed Alexander Kotov, chairman of the Central Council of the Interregional Professional Union of Professional Drivers.
— At the same time, those who purposefully use such devices or turn off the on-board device altogether, specifically cover the license plates of the car so as not to receive a fine. As a result, bona fide carriers who work openly suffer," he noted.
The State Duma is ready to come up with a legislative initiative to limit the turnover or completely ban devices that block the operation of the Platon system, said Alexey Lapushkin, Deputy chairman of the Economic Council of the Liberal Democratic Party.
The Ministry of Transport is taking measures
The Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation is aware of the problem with the impact of electronic warfare on the operation of the Platon complexes and has already taken appropriate measures, Anton Kozlov, Deputy Director of the Department of State Policy in the Field of Road Management at the Russian Ministry of Transport, said at the round table.
— We see that in some cases, due to the effects of electronic warfare, the Platon system does not work correctly. To avoid unjustified fines for cargo carriers in such situations, part of the framework used to control payment in the Platon system was equipped with special devices that detect the effects of electronic warfare systems and disable this framework," Kozlov said.
According to him, in this case, the frame will not send data about the vehicle, and the cargo carrier will not receive a fine for non-payment of Plato.
The issue of efficiency
The Russian Platon was based on a similar system operating in Germany, said Taras Koval, vice president of the Association of Transport Experts and Specialists. However, the efficiency of the domestic system turned out to be noticeably lower than the foreign one, he noted.
— In 2024, the Toll Collect system in Germany collected almost € 13 billion, which is about 1.2 trillion rubles. Platon has brought in a total of 328 billion rubles since 2015," the expert said.
The Russian system, unlike its foreign counterparts, does not take into account the environmental class of the car, which, on the one hand, affects the amount of funds collected with its help, and on the other hand, it does not stimulate the renewal of the truck fleet. Also, such a noticeable difference in efficiency is explained by the large number of unscrupulous carriers who basically do not pay for travel, Koval noted.
The bill approved in February by the State Duma in the first reading, suggesting an increase in the fine for non-payment of Plato from the current 5,000 rubles to 20,000 rubles, is justified from the point of view of increasing the effectiveness of this system, Koval believes.
— Now the route from Moscow to Novosibirsk will cost the cargo carrier about 10 thousand rubles. Obviously, it is more profitable to pay 5,000 rubles in the form of a fine," the specialist noted.
At the same time, he believes that at the same time as the increase in fines, it is necessary to simplify and improve the mechanism for appealing them, since it is now impossible to challenge them online, a personal presence of a representative of the carrier company in the Plato office is required.
Tow trucks are illegal
Separately, the problem of incorrect operation of automatic weight and size control points (APVGK) was raised at the round table. As Izvestia has repeatedly reported, due to defects in the roadway, such points often produce erroneous results and as a result, cargo carriers receive fines for overloading.
In some cases, due to inconsistencies in legislation regarding the regulation of the work of the APVGC, some activities directly related to road safety are actually in the "gray zone", the participants of the round table noted. In particular, we are talking about the work of cargo tow truck services that "pull apart" broken trucks from the accident sites or remove broken trucks from the roadsides to a safe place.
According to Valery Moskalev, president of the Association of Professional Evacuation and Towing Services, if the concepts of "Cargo transportation" and "Towing vehicles" are clearly distinguished in the traffic regulations, then there are no such differences in the work of the APVGC. As a result, a tow truck that passes under such a frame almost always receives a fine.
— By itself, a semi-trailer truck fits into the permissible length standards, and taking into account the cargo equator, the length of such a coupling goes beyond the limits. The same thing happens with the axle load: a tow truck cannot be light by itself, otherwise it will not evacuate anyone. And if towing is carried out by partial loading, then the tow truck is under additional load from the truck, which is also constantly "jumping" due to the roughness of the road. Obviously, such a coupling will show overloading," he noted.
Evacuation is not cargo transportation, it is towing, Valery Moskalev emphasized. Tow trucks should not be subject to requirements for weight, axle load and dimensions, as for conventional trucks, he is sure.
— There are only a few hundred tow trucks operating in the country, which, among other things, ensure road safety. Vehicles of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and other departments are not subject to the actions of either the APVGC or Plato. At the same time, very often cargo tow trucks go to the scene precisely at the request of the traffic police or rescuers. It is necessary to streamline the work of evacuation services at the legislative level, also freeing them from the "Plato" and general weight and size requirements, Valery Moskalev said at the round table.
Standby mode
The Ministry of Transport is already preparing amendments to the legislation concerning the work of the APVGC and the scheme for issuing fines, said Anton Kozlov, Deputy Director of the Department of State Policy in the Field of Road Management at the Ministry of Transport of Russia. According to him, it is planned to introduce an information system (via a mobile application and a personal account) for the cargo carrier and the driver and the detected excess of the established standards. This will allow you to quickly eliminate possible overloading that has occurred, for example, due to cargo displaced in the back of the truck.
Also, according to Anton Kozlov, it is planned to create a kind of buffer (approximately two weeks) between fixing the violation and issuing a fine. If during this time the truck passes through other "frames" on which no violation is detected, it means that this APVGC has given incorrect results that will not be taken into account and will not become the basis for issuing a fine, he stressed.
The representative of the Ministry of Transport did not specify when these changes in legislation will be considered and may come into force.
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