The State Duma allowed security forces to travel free of charge on toll roads

On July 22, the State Duma in the third reading adopted a bill that grants the right of free passage on toll roads to vehicles of law enforcement agencies — the Rosgvardiya, the FSB and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The bill is posted on the website of the lower house of parliament, it was submitted to the State Duma in May last year and adopted in the first reading in September.

The document is designed to eliminate the regulatory gap, the explanatory note says. At the moment, a number of departments and operational services have the right to travel free of charge: police, firefighters, ambulances, military traffic police, emergency services.

"In order to ensure the prompt arrival of vehicles of the National Guard troops at the scene of a crime, an administrative offense, as well as the protection of citizens, it is necessary to use the entire automobile road network, including toll roads and toll sections of highways," the authors of the bill noted.

According to the text of the draft law considered in the third reading, the list of vehicles of departments and structures that have the right to travel free of charge on toll roads will be specified in paragraph 2 of Part 1 of Article 41 of the Federal Law "On Highways and on Road Activities ...". These are vehicles of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the National Guard troops, the FSB and internal affairs agencies, the Investigative Committee, state security agencies, the main directorate of special programs of the President of the Russian Federation, the prosecutor's office and the state courier service.

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Earlier that day, it was reported that the State Duma proposed allowing motorcyclists and mopeds to ride in designated lanes on a par with public transport. The authors of the idea explained their proposal by the fact that allotments are often empty, and motorcycles and mopeds occupy an objectively small share in the total traffic flow.