A road traffic inspector is man’s best friend

It has been nearly six months since President Yushchenko issued the order abolishing the State Road Traffic Inspection. Recently the president again acknowledged that road traffic is not safe enough and called the work of the services involved in traffic control “unsatisfactory.” He has instructed the Cabinet of Ministers to study the question of creating a governmental coordinating council to oversee traffic safety. The council should include leading members of Ukraine’s Internal Affairs, Transport and Communication, Justice, Emergency Situations, and Health ministries, as well as the State Automobile Road Service and relevant civic organizations and research institutions. But the question is not whether Ukraine needs such a council and what it will do, but what is happening on Ukrainian roads. What are the consequences of the abolition of the State Road Traffic Inspection? What has changed in this sphere in the past few months?

The first thing that caught our journalist’s eye was the new uniforms of the traffic inspectors. The changes are obvious, so to speak. “We are in a state of reorganization,” says Serhiy Levytsky of the Road Traffic Inspection press service: “The personnel were reduced sharply. Only the best remain. There is a bill in parliament, which has passed all the necessary committees; all the signatures have been collected. The only thing left to do is to enact it. Once this is done, we will be given another two months to reorganize in line with this bill.” After these two months of transformations we will have absolutely safe road traffic, Road Traffic Inspection representatives say.

But things are not that simple. “The bill proposed by the police will not resolve existing problems,” says MP Mykola Kravchenko, who chairs the All-Ukrainian Organization for the Protection of Drivers’ Rights. “The bill does not address the main question — changing the duties of the State Road Traffic Inspection. It will only help inspectors to fine drivers. As far as I understand, the police are blocking the passage of the Road Traffic Code. A draft of this code was prepared two years ago, by a dozen people, including Viktor Yushchenko, who was a parliamentarian at the time. This code combines traffic control duties with traffic organizing functions. Handling traffic jams, traffic circulation, installing road signs should all be the tasks of the State Road Traffic Inspection. The inspection must be responsible for organizing traffic instead of simply waiting for drivers to ‘slip up.’ Today it is to the inspectors’ advantage that the speed limit is 40 kilometers per hour in some areas. This creates more opportunities to fine drivers for speeding. Meanwhile, they should be concerned with improving the circulation of traffic in these areas as much as possible in order to prevent traffic jams and make sure that everything is going smoothly and there are no reasons to fine drivers. All of these things are in the code.”

To put it simply, a road traffic inspector must stop being the enemy of drivers’ and become their friend. As for the bill that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is lobbying for, Kravchenko believes that it will create a new “fiscal body” on the basis of the Road Traffic Inspection, which will be loved and respected no more than its predecessor. The bill proposes raising the minimum fine to 85 hryvnias versus the current 17 hryvnias. Meanwhile, lower fines would be imposed for driving without a seatbelt, which is quite strange since this violation represents one of the biggest hazards for both drivers and passengers. The bill would also restore to traffic inspectors their recently abolished right to confiscate drivers’ licenses.

Another “punitive” aspect of the bill is that it would allow mandatory towing of illegally parked cars even with the driver present. Many Kyiv residents have often witnessed this procedure because the Kyiv Municipal Council recently authorized towing. “This is absolutely illegal,” says Kravchenko. “This practice has already been banned. I appealed to the prosecutor’s office, which explicitly stated that this is illegal. This practice violates car owners’ rights. Moreover, cars are often damaged during towing.” Kravchenko is certain that parliament will reject the bill proposed by the police. The Road Traffic Inspection is only waiting for it to pass.

Drivers claim that nothing has changed on Ukrainian roads in the past six months: the same road inspectors and the same bribes. While officials are discussing future improvements, drivers would like to feel safe on the roads today.