by The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has strengthened the responsibility of irresponsible motorists before the law. Thus, the parliamentarians voted for bill No. 2695, which tightens responsibility for serious traffic violations. Notably, a whole 325 deputies supported the documents out of the 260 required.
There are quite a lot of innovations, and mainly they concern the increase of fines for drunk driving. Whereas previously such an offense would cost 10,000 UAH, now it is 17,000. If a driver is caught drunk for the second and third time (within a year), they will have to pay 34,000 and 51,000 UAH respectively.
A fine is also now provided for drunk cyclists – it amounts to 680 UAH.
The penalty for driving without a license has also increased. Now, forgetting a driver’s license at home will result in a fine of 425 UAH, and if it turns out that the driver never had a license – 3,400 UAH. As for those who were previously deprived of their licenses, if caught driving, they will be fined 20,400-40,800 UAH.
Moreover, speed enthusiasts will also face trouble: the fine for exceeding the speed limit by more than 50 km/h has increased from 510 to 3,400 UAH. The same punishment awaits those who leave the scene of an accident (previously 250 UAH). Creating a dangerous situation will be punished with a fine of 1,445 UAH, and a violation leading to an accident will cost 850 UAH.
Finally, a fine of 510 UAH is provided for the following violations:
- not wearing a seatbelt or not having a helmet for the motorcyclist;
- unlit license plate;
- talking on the phone while driving without a headset;
- violation of rules of crossing intersections, stops, driving through the red light, overtaking rules.
At the same time, in a number of serious violations – such as a drunk driving accident causing death – in addition to the fine, imprisonment with confiscation of the vehicle and revocation of the license will also be applied.
By the way, this same document was supposed to grant the police the right to stop drivers without reason, but this provision was crossed out just before the document was adopted.
Now it remains for the president to sign this bill. After that, it will essentially come into force.
