Wait for traffic police: The Supreme Court confirmed the ban on alcohol after an accident

In any road accident, regardless of the circumstances of the incident and the absence of victims, motorists are prohibited from drinking alcohol. This was confirmed by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, upholding the verdict of the driver who damaged only his car in the accident. In any incident on the road, alcohol consumption by the driver before the incident is registered by traffic police officers is fraught with disqualification and a heavy fine, lawyers and experts remind. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.

A bottle of vodka and a license

In September 2023, in the Tambov region, a truck driver lost control and drove into a ditch. The police officers who arrived at the scene suspected him of drinking alcohol (he had a characteristic smell, unstable posture and incoherent speech) and demanded to undergo a breathalyzer test, which confirmed their suspicions. The device recorded 1,264 mg of ethyl alcohol in a liter of exhaled air, despite the fact that, according to the Administrative Code, a motorist is considered drunk at readings above 0.16 mg. In the protocol drawn up by the traffic police, the trucker indicated that he was driving the truck sober, but after the accident, while waiting for traffic police inspectors, he drank a bottle of vodka.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Lantyukhov

Taking into account the data of the breathalyzer, as well as the testimony of the driver himself, the traffic inspectors compiled administrative material against him under Part 3 of Article 12.27 ("Failure to comply with the traffic regulations prohibiting the driver from consuming alcoholic beverages, narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances after an accident in which he was involved"). The Yelabuga District Magistrate's Court of Tatarstan deprived the driver of his license for a year and a half and fined him 30 thousand rubles. Such a sanction was in effect at the time of the commission of the offense.

The driver did not agree with this verdict and, through his lawyer, challenged it first in the Yelabuga City Court, and then in the Sixth Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction. As arguments, the trucker's defense pointed out that the incident was not an accident, since there were no injuries or damage to other persons, and, therefore, the ban on alcohol consumption after a car accident was inapplicable in this case. However, both courts disagreed with these arguments, so the driver's lawyer filed a complaint with the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

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There was an accident after all

Having reviewed the case materials, the Supreme Court (SC RF) found no grounds for reviewing the decisions of lower instances. The court considered the argument that the car's descent into the ditch did not meet the signs of an accident to be unfounded.

"According to the traffic regulations, a traffic accident is an event that occurred while a vehicle was moving along the road and with its participation, in which people were killed or injured, vehicles, structures, goods were damaged, or other material damage was caused. The KamAZ vehicle, which was driven by the driver Ifanov (last name changed. — Izvestia), belongs to <...>, therefore, material damage was caused to the owner of this vehicle, and the specified event corresponds to the signs of a traffic accident," the decree of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation says.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Konstantin Kokoshkin

As a result, the Supreme Court dismissed the complaint and upheld the decisions of the lower courts.

Not a drop without traffic police

Any incident that occurred with a vehicle that was in motion is an accident, said Sergey Radko, a lawyer for the Freedom of Choice movement. Therefore, the decision regarding Ifanov is absolutely balanced and reasoned, he believes.

— It doesn't matter what exactly happened — a collision with an animal, a descent into a ditch, or even a slight contact with a parking pole — all this is considered an accident. And since the traffic regulations have a direct ban on the use of alcoholic beverages, narcotic or psychotropic substances by drivers involved in it before the car inspectors conduct an appropriate examination or make a decision to abandon this procedure, it is absolutely impossible to "relieve stress" in this way before the arrival of police officers at the scene of the accident, Sergei Radko told Izvestia.

At the same time, the lawyer stressed, this requirement does not apply in cases where another car crashed into a parked car, but the driver of the stationary vehicle was not in it.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Andrey Erstrem

— This is also an accident, but in this situation, even if the victim is drunk, the traffic police have no right to make any claims against him and require him to undergo an examination. After all, at the time of the collision, such a citizen was not the driver," the lawyer noted.

"He didn't become sober": the driver was deprived of his license under an invalid law

An invalid regulatory act is not a ground for revoking a court decision.

Sergei Radko recalled that all the "automobile" articles of the Administrative Code, one way or another related to alcohol consumption (driving drunk, refusing to undergo a medical examination, drinking alcohol to drivers after an accident), provide for the same punishment: deprivation of a driver's license for one and a half to two years and a fine of 45 thousand rubles.

Maxim Kadakov, editor-in-chief of Za Rulem magazine, also notes that the situation in which the heavy truck driver got into is an accident, and therefore the trucker was punished in accordance with the law.

— The traffic regulations explicitly state that after an accident, the driver is prohibited from drinking alcohol, even to "relieve stress." In this case, the trucker suffered a well—deserved punishment precisely for violating this prohibition, and not for driving a truck drunk," Maxim Kadakov noted.