A few words off the record: suspension of drunk drivers will become optional

In Russia, the procedure for registering drunk drivers will change — a protocol on their suspension before a sobriety check will become optional. The relevant amendments to the Administrative Code were adopted by the State Duma. This innovation will make life easier for both motorists and car inspectors, lawyers and experts believe. The details are in the Izvestia article.

Save on forms

The State Duma adopted in the third final reading amendments to the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, changing the procedure for registration of drivers suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol, as well as detaining a vehicle. The document is posted in the legislative support system of the Parliament.

The adopted amendments give traffic police the right, if they suspect that a motorist is drunk, either to draw up a separate protocol on suspension from driving, or to put an appropriate mark on suspension in other procedural documents (for example, in the act of examination for intoxication or in the protocol of referral for medical examination). The same scheme will apply to the protocol on the detention of a vehicle: inspectors will also be able to either draw up a separate protocol, as they are now, or make a record of the detention of a car in the protocol on an administrative offense, which served as the reason for the detention of the car.

The authors of the law note that according to the existing procedure, when stopping a driver who is suspected of being drunk, traffic police officers need to draw up up to five different procedural documents. Moreover, the registration of a protocol on suspension from driving a vehicle is mandatory in any case — this is the very first paper that the police are required to draw up before offering the driver to undergo an alcohol test. Even if the breathalyzer shows that the motorist is sober, current legislation requires traffic police inspectors to first document his removal from driving the vehicle.

"According to the results of the law enforcement analysis, the drafting of a protocol on suspension from driving a vehicle is redundant in some cases," the explanatory note to the document says.

The deputies noted that according to data for 2024, about 403,5 thousand cases of administrative offenses were initiated for driving under the influence of alcohol and refusing a medical examination. At the same time, based on practice, it takes about five minutes for an employee of the State Traffic Inspectorate to draw up one procedural document, the parliamentarians point out.

"Reducing the number of procedural documents being drawn up in these cases would save approximately 33.6 thousand working hours per year, as well as reduce the financial costs required to purchase blank products," the accompanying documents to the adopted bill say.

Drivers benefit

The adopted amendments do not infringe on the rights of motorists at all, says Sergey Radko, a lawyer for the Freedom of Choice movement. When registering drivers suspected of driving under the influence, traffic police now draw up several identical documents, much of the information in which is duplicated, he notes.

— In all procedural documents, the traffic police inspector indicates all the data of the driver, his car, signs that gave reason to believe that the motorist was drunk (the smell of alcohol from his mouth, redness of the skin, incoherent speech, gait disorder, behavior inappropriate to the situation). It is logical that the decision was made to avoid duplication of this information in different documents. This will significantly speed up the process of "sobriety control," the lawyer told Izvestia.

It is obvious that after these amendments come into force, drivers will spend much less time communicating with traffic police during sobriety checks, Maxim Kadakov, editor-in-chief of Za Rulem magazine, is convinced.

— Practice shows that the vast majority of motorists are recognized as sober during such inspections. And in this case, the initial registration of the protocol on the driver's removal from control of vehicles, which is mandatory according to the current rules, becomes formally necessary, but at the same time a meaningless document. It should have been abandoned a long time ago: law-abiding drivers will only benefit from these changes, since they will not waste unnecessary time and nerves. And in case the motorist turned out to be drunk, or refused a medical examination, a note on his suspension will be indicated in the appropriate protocol," explained the editor—in-chief of Za Rulem.

Get back to control faster

Despite the active digitalization and optimization of many processes, the procedure for registering drunk drivers is now one of the most formal and bureaucratic, said Igor Morzharetto, a member of the Presidium of the Public Council under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. The adopted amendments make it easier and faster, he notes.

— In fact, an absolutely unnecessary document is being removed, which the traffic police are now forced to spend their time drafting. Instead of paper writing, they will be able to use it for traffic control. From the point of view of road safety, this is a much more efficient use of the working time of traffic police inspectors," he told Izvestia.

Maxim Kadakov also believes that the less paperwork inspectors have, the more attention they will be able to pay to detecting traffic violators on the road.