Drivers, tired of the arbitrariness and rudeness of traffic police officers, are increasingly uniting in public movements, releasing special guides and video materials, and organizing training meetings. "Motorists are gradually ceasing to feel disenfranchised, and our task is to help them with this," notes Artem Babelin, the creator of the course "How to Avoid Fines."
Nevertheless, the complete eradication of problems with dishonest or simply impolite inspectors is still far off. Over nine months of the current year, 1,238 complaints about unlawful actions of officers were received on the hotlines of the State Traffic Inspectorate, but only 45 of them were fully or partially confirmed. As a result, only 29 traffic police officers were brought to disciplinary responsibility.
In August of this year, a video went viral online showing a traffic police inspector from the Vinnytsia region showing a fig to a driver instead of an official ID. This tense dialogue between a representative of authority and a motorist caused a huge resonance and a lot of discussion. Over several months, the video on YouTube gained more than 175,000 views, and the inspector himself, who was eventually identified, was dismissed by the new leadership of the department in a demonstrative manner.
However, such an outcome is rather a rare exception. Most similar videos, which drivers massively record on mobile phone cameras, as a rule, do not have serious consequences. In the best case, motorists armed with video recordings manage to avoid fines, but it usually does not come to punishing the rude inspectors themselves.
However, activists of the road resistance movement are pleased even with this state of affairs. "An awareness is being formed that a person behind the wheel has no fewer rights than a person with a baton. Now it is important that this understanding becomes universal," believes Babelin. It is precisely for this purpose that he launched seminars for motorists.
At one of these three-hour classes, a current traffic police officer not only explains the basics of road legislation to those interested but also helps analyze the most common conflict situations on the road. In the first month of operation, five groups of ten people completed the course, not counting large corporate clients.
According to Babelin, who himself has never paid fines in his life, most listeners, including drivers with extensive experience, do not know elementary things. For example, that the inspector is obliged to provide not only his data but also documents for the radar. Or that the offer to "blow into the tube" on the spot or open the trunk can be legally refused.
And very few guess that they can themselves bring to account the guardians of road order, who also often break the law. There are plenty of reasons for this, according to Alexander Kudinov, who provides legal support to drivers. Having studied the legislation and proved his case, he began to help motorists in trouble on a free basis. Only in the last two years, thanks to his efforts, about 3,000 administrative cases concerning violations of drivers' rights were appealed. And in 2009, 22 inspectors were dismissed.
In the traffic police, the honor of their employees is defended to the last. According to the department, since the beginning of the year, at least 1,972 inspectors have resisted the temptation of illegal gain and reported attempts to bribe them. Striving to improve its image, the State Traffic Inspectorate even comes up with an initiative to introduce special classes in driving schools to improve the legal literacy of drivers.
