We have already written that now residents of Crimea will have to replace their driver's licenses, vehicle registration certificates, and license plates. It is clear that after this, drivers will face problems when traveling to Ukraine (does that sound right?). But today we will focus on the main differences between Russian traffic rules and Ukrainian ones, as highlighted by Vladimir Karavaev, author of the books "100 Arguments Against Traffic Police Fines" and "Karavaev's Arguments Against Traffic Police Fines":
1. In Ukraine, you can make a forced stop in a prohibited place (due to the poor health of any road user), but in Russia this applies only to the driver and passengers of the vehicle.
2. In our country, daytime running lights must be white and are provided for by the vehicle's design. In Russia, it's simpler – you can use any external lights intended to improve the visibility of your vehicle during daylight hours.
3. Important point: in Russia, a driver is obliged to hand over their documents to a traffic police officer, while in Ukraine they only need to present them!
4. According to Russian traffic rules, drivers operating vehicles belonging to legal entities must also have a waybill and shipping documents. Employees of the Federal Service for Supervision of Transport may also demand them.
5. You should also be prepared for the fact that an excuse like "the bulb was working this morning, it just burned out" is unlikely to work. In Ukraine, a driver must check the technical condition of the car before leaving, but in Russia you also need to monitor it while driving and fix any problems promptly. This is required by the "Basic Provisions for the Approval of Vehicles for Operation and the Duties of Officials to Ensure Road Safety." You will have to study them additionally.
6. Difficulties may arise with the interpretation of the permissible alcohol level for drivers. In Russia, the limit is higher than in Ukraine and is 0.16 mg of ethyl alcohol per liter of exhaled air, which roughly corresponds to the old value of 0.3 ppm. However, the punishment for exceeding this level is harsher and even includes administrative arrest. In addition, the traffic police are equipped with high-precision devices that perform spectrophotometric analysis of alcohol and have a connection to a computer for data recording. That is, if the "tube" test was performed, you will have to go to court.
7. Crimean drivers will also become familiar with a new flashing beacon of white-lunar color. But it is used by federal postal transport and cash collectors, and drivers of such vehicles can only turn on the beacon and special sound signal during attacks on these vehicles. Such a beacon does not provide any advantage in traffic; it only serves to attract the attention of police officers.
8. The main difference in Russian rules concerns pedestrians: at uncontrolled pedestrian crossings, "horseless" Russians do not have priority over vehicles. Pedestrians may enter the roadway only after they are sure that this maneuver will be safe for them. It can be predicted that this difference in rules will cause many sad accidents.
9. Drivers should know that the police can demand that they stop not only with a baton but also simply via a loudspeaker.
10. And when a driver is heading to a repair site in a faulty car, they no longer need to turn on the hazard warning lights; Russian traffic rules do not require this.
11. In Crimea, you can now also be fined for making a U-turn or reversing near stops of route vehicles.
12. However, in terms of choosing a lane, Russia is more democratic than Ukraine – the rules do not require you to keep to the right; in populated areas you can drive in any lane.
13. Crimeans are unlikely to be happy about the new speed limits, which are stricter in Russia:
- 110 km/h instead of the Ukrainian 130 on highways;
- 90 km/h instead of 110 km/h on roads with a dividing strip;
- trucks with a total mass of more than 3.5 tons are not allowed to exceed 90 km/h on highways and 70 km/h on other roads at all!
14. In Ukraine, if a speed limit sign is installed with violations, the driver cannot be fined. In Russia, signs can be placed anywhere and in any way. In addition, Russia already has a system of automatic recording of violations, and devices similar to those banned in our country are used: "KADR-1", "RADIUS-1", and others.
15. Another danger for pedestrians is hidden in the requirements for overtaking before a pedestrian crossing: in our country, overtaking is prohibited 50 meters before a pedestrian crossing in a populated area, and 100 meters outside the city. In Russia, overtaking is prohibited only at the pedestrian crossing itself, if there are pedestrians.
16. In our country, overtaking is prohibited at all intersections. In Russia, only at regulated ones, and at unregulated ones only if your road is not the main one.
17. It will become easier to choose a place to stop: instead of 10 meters before a pedestrian crossing in Ukraine, the Russian restriction applies only to 5 meters. In the area of public transport stops, the restricted zone is also half as large: 30 meters in Ukraine and 15 meters in Russia. And where road works are underway, Russians have no restrictions on stopping, while Ukrainians have 10 meters from the work site.
18. Russians also have fewer restrictions regarding parking. In Ukraine, you cannot park a car if it creates an obstacle for pedestrians, near garbage container sites, or on lawns. According to Russian traffic rules, you can park in all these cases. However, if there is a sign prohibiting parking, it also applies to the sidewalk (in Ukraine, it does not).
19. Pedestrians will need to be very careful when crossing the street. In Ukraine, a driver must yield to those crossing the road onto which they are turning, as well as to cyclists moving in the same direction. In Russia, they only yield to cyclists crossing the road on a bicycle path!
20. Crimeans will also have to forget about turning on a painted green arrow on a red light; Russians do not have such a rule.
21. In Ukraine, you must yield to public transport departing from a stop if it is in a special bay. In Russia, you must always yield.
22. Residents of Crimea will have to get used to turning on parking lights or daytime running lights during daylight hours always, when starting to move. In Ukraine, this rule applies only outside populated areas in the autumn-winter period.
In conclusion
The main difference between Russian rules and Ukrainian ones is that the former differ little from the old rules in force in the USSR, while Ukrainian ones are as close as possible to European ones. For this reason, the Russian traffic rules brochure is much thinner and lacks many new road signs. At the same time, Russians have significantly more fines, and they are higher than Ukrainian ones.
In hryvnia terms, the minimum Russian fine is 137 UAH, the most common is 1,370 UAH, the fine for drunk driving is 8,220 UAH, and the maximum fines reach 13,700 UAH, plus administrative arrest.
