An ordinary driver wanted to fine traffic police officers for not fastening his seat belt. An ordinary driver wanted to fine traffic police officers for not wearing a seat belt. Are rear passengers required to wear seat belts?

happened on one of the roads of our vast Motherland. A driver, an ordinary road user, is pursuing traffic police officers... Already an interesting start, isn’t it? The police officers, in turn, are trying in the most natural way to hide from him. What's happening?

As will become clear to you from the video, in this way the driver is trying to restore justice, call on government employees to comply with the letter of the law and make their service safer. The fact is that the employees who were being chased by the motorist were not wearing seat belts and the person repeatedly demanded that they draw up a report on themselves...

Hmmm, what can I say, the situation is extraordinary and one could assume that another viral video had appeared on YouTube, if not for the tense tone of the car enthusiast and the confusion of the law enforcement officers themselves, who clearly did not know that this could also happen. Let’s also add to this that an hour earlier, these officers probably issued a report to this car owner for something similar (Article 12.23 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). We can imagine the wave of indignation of the driver when he saw that law enforcement officers were committing such a traffic violation.

The video on video hosting is gaining views and, probably, sooner or later the heads of traffic police officers who find themselves in an unpleasant situation will become familiar with the situation.

By the way, is it the duty of law enforcement officers monitoring road safety to wear seat belts? After all, it seems that this category, as well as the instructors teaching driving, might not wear a seat belt while driving. This was once the case, but for seven years now this “privilege” has been abolished by government decree, paragraph 2.1.2 has changed, which no longer distinguishes drivers and passengers into those on duty or ordinary civilians:

2.1.2. When driving a vehicle equipped with seat belts, be fastened and do not carry passengers who are not wearing seat belts. When driving a motorcycle, wear a fastened motorcycle helmet and do not carry passengers without a fastened motorcycle helmet.

(as amended by Resolutions of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 04/21/2000 N 370, dated 12/14/2005 N 767, dated 05/10/2010 N 316)

Such interesting things. It is not clear how the story ended, but I think everyone drew the right conclusions from this incident.

The leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs intends to deprive traffic inspectors of an important privilege: the right not to wear seat belts. After all, in the event of an accident, neither the uniform nor the rod can save you.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has now prepared draft amendments to the current Traffic Rules. This was announced by the First Deputy Director of the Road Safety Department of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Major General of Police Vladimir Shvetsov.

According to current legislation, traffic police officers may not wear seat belts. We want to remove this privilege.

We are talking about paragraph 2.1.2 of the traffic rules, which states that the one who teaches a beginner how to drive may not wear a seat belt when the car is being driven by a student. In populated areas, the driver and passengers of specially painted emergency service vehicles are allowed to drive unbelted. It is this exception to the rules that the Ministry of Internal Affairs proposes to remove. Shvetsov emphasized that police officers will be punished with the most severe measures for violations of traffic rules. As if they are ordinary drivers who, as you know, pay 500 rubles. Perhaps even stricter: punishment is planned not only administratively, but also based on service. Fortunately, ordinary citizens are not reprimanded at work for running a red light. The traffic police inspector, according to Shvetsov, must himself be a model of behavior on the road, regardless of whether he is currently on duty or has a day off. Which is fair.

It is clear that when a police car is in a hurry to respond to an urgent call or task, it must be given the green light. And some kind of violation of the rules will be justified, because time does not wait. However, people in uniform often understand their privileges as the right to ride as they want, without regard to the rules. The flashing lights can be turned on even on the way to lunch. And wearing seat belts seems to be beneath police dignity.

By the way, the process has already begun. The idea has been voiced more than once or twice, but for the first time it came to the preparation of a government resolution only now. The last straw was an accident on the Moscow Ring Road, when during a collision a traffic inspector flew out of the open door of a patrol car and fell under the wheels of a passing car.

It must be said that in Europe all police wear seat belts. Removing the belt is a matter of a split second. In addition, being unbelted while driving a car equipped with airbags is more expensive. And recently, this passive safety system has been installed even on our domestic cars. By the way, most police officers who are assigned cars undergo special courses in driving. There they are required to wear seat belts. Why this science disappears on the road is completely unclear.

Let us recall that the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Rashid Nurgaliev, after a series of major accidents in the country, including those involving police officers, instructed all heads of regional departments of the department to recertify all employees assigned to vehicles for knowledge of the rules and ability to drive a car, including in non-standard situations.

If you forgot your seat belt, this is not nonsense at all. Firstly, you are exposed to danger on the road, and secondly, you become a criminal. Such actions form an administrative violation for which you will have to pay. We’ll talk further about what fine is imposed in this case, who should pay it, whether rear passengers and children need to wear seat belts, and what other punishment the violator may suffer.

Fine for not wearing a seat belt 2019

In May 2016, changes to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation came into force, which changed the size of the fine for a child not wearing a seat belt.

More precisely, for citizens it remained the same - 3000 rubles, it’s just that clause 3 of Article 12.23 of the Code of Administrative Offenses was supplemented with fines for:

• officials - 25,000 rubles.
• legal entities – 100,000 rub.

Previously, the sanction of this article was focused only on individuals. This year, the legislator decided to toughen the punishment for those responsible for organizing the transportation of children.

Its provisions refer to violations of the requirements for transporting children specified in the traffic rules, and not specifically about unfastened seat belts. But since paragraph 22.9 of the traffic rules talks about the need to fasten the baby or seat him in specially designed structures, then ignoring this requirement is already the basis for the application of article 12.23.

For other cases, the seat belt fine remained unchanged in 2019:

• for drivers – 1000 rubles;
• for passengers – 500 rub.

How to seat belt your children without getting fined

You will have to pay the most for unbelted children in the car, so you need to figure out how and with what to secure them in the seat, and also up to what age.

The traffic rules do not put forward strict restrictions on fastening methods, but only offer options:

• special child seat;
• child adapters for adult belts;
• children's belts.

Typically, children under 3 years of age are transported in child seats, while older children are transported using belt adapters. Although there are special chairs that are designed for a child aged 12 years, for some reason they are almost never used.

It is interesting that clause 22.9 of the traffic rules puts forward such requirements only for those situations when there is a child under 12 years old in the car. Apparently, older children are treated like adults, although from a legal point of view, persons become adults at the age of 16. But based on the Traffic Rules, we come to the conclusion that a fine of 3,000 rubles is imposed only for children under 12 years of age who are not properly restrained, and teenagers from 12 to 16 are “considered” adults, and therefore for them its size is limited to 1000 rubles.

Unbelted driver, passenger, child: who pays for what?

This information is also important to know:

1. Note, If the child is not wearing a seat belt, the driver pays, not parents. Parents will only have to pay if one of them drives the car.
2. The fine for unbelted passengers does not depend on their number. It doesn’t matter how many of them violated traffic rules, the driver will still have to pay 1000 rubles and no more.
3. Traffic police officers can fine you for this offense several times a day., but of course for a repeated violation, and not for the same thing.
4. Many people believe that only those sitting in the first seat need to buckle up. However, the basis for imposing a fine will be Unfastened seat belt, including in the back seat.
5. The passenger may be given a warning instead of a fine. This benefit does not apply to drivers.

Who won't pay a fine for not wearing a seat belt?

• instructor, during the driving training process;
• disabled person;
• drivers and passengers of operational vehicles (for example, ambulances), if they have identification marks.

The law does not exempt public transport passengers from liability. However, the practice among traffic police officers has developed in such a way that fines are not imposed on them, since at the moment in our country public vehicles are not equipped with belts.

Other types of responsibility other than administrative

Under certain conditions, a person may be subject to civil and even criminal liability for this violation.

The basis for this is an accident that occurred due to the fault of a driver who violated traffic rules. Not wearing a seat belt is already a violation, although not as “shameful” as alcohol intoxication, but it is also taken into account when investigating an accident.

Therefore, a driver who did not buckle up himself or did not follow his passengers in doing so, if he gets into an accident, may be subject to criminal liability as:

• restrictions for up to 3 years or imprisonment for up to 2 years, forced labor for up to 2 years, arrest for up to 6 months - if serious harm to health was caused to the victim due to negligence;
• forced labor for up to 4 years, imprisonment for up to 5 years - in the event of the death of the victim;
• forced labor for up to 5 years, imprisonment for up to 7 years - if the death of 2 or more people occurs.

Any of the penalties will be applied only if the driver’s guilt is confirmed by a court decision.

A civil claim can be brought by any passenger who was injured as a result of the accident. Everything will depend on the passenger, so being brought to this type of liability is much less common.

By fastening a seat belt in a car, we become road users; when driving out on the road, as a driver you must be aware that you are driving a source of increased danger, and must respect not only other road users, but also traffic police officers who are always READY to remind you that traffic rules were created to comply with them. And since not all drivers know how to defend their LEGAL right on the ROAD.

STOPPING (legality of actions of traffic police officers)

Regarding the stop of paragraph 2 of the ORDER of the MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS of the RUSSIAN FEDERATION dated June 1. N 329 “ON REFORMING THE ACTIVITIES OF THE STATE TRAFFIC INSPECTOR OF THE MIA OF RUSSIA” says clearly when you can be stopped:

• violation of traffic rules by drivers or passengers;
• the presence of data indicating the involvement of the driver and passengers in the commission of a traffic accident, administrative offense, crime;
• the vehicle is wanted, as well as the presence of data on the use of the vehicle for illegal purposes;
• the need to interview the driver or passengers about the circumstances of the commission of a traffic accident, administrative offense, crime of which they are eyewitnesses;
• implementation of decisions of authorized state bodies or officials to restrict or prohibit movement;
• the need to attract a driver or vehicle to assist other road users or police officers;
• verification of documents for the right to use and drive vehicles, as well as documents for the vehicle and transported cargo - only at stationary posts of the road patrol service of the State Traffic Inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, police control posts and checkpoints.

Traffic police officers invite drivers to leave the cab (interior) of the vehicle in the following cases:

B) when there are reasonable grounds to believe that the driver is intoxicated;

E) in other cases when the participation of drivers is required in preparing the necessary documents or providing assistance to other road users. (Thus, whether or not to get out of the car to meet the inspector is your right, not your obligation)

18.2. When addressing road users, police officers must introduce themselves, placing their hand on their headgear, state their position, special rank and surname, and report the reason for stopping the vehicle. When talking with citizens, traffic police officers are required to show calm and restraint, should not enter into arguments, lose composure, or respond with rudeness to rudeness.

18.9. At the request of road users, he reports the badge number and presents, without letting go of his hands, his service ID. 18.7. When checking documents, you must handle them carefully and do not make any marks on them. If money and securities are included in the documents, you must invite the owner to take them himself.”

Regarding the time of stopping, you can only refer to clause 1.2 of the traffic rules: “stopping is a deliberate cessation of the movement of a vehicle for up to 5 minutes, as well as longer if this is necessary for boarding or disembarking passengers or loading or unloading a vehicle.”

Pay attention to the word “intentional”, i.e. understood in advance.

If you are stopped by a traffic light or barrier, it is not a stop. It is also not specified on whose part the intentionality was: yours or the inspector’s. Inspectors “sometimes” intimidate drivers with the fact that they can detain you for 3 hours (Article 27.5, paragraph 1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses).

Then you should be told that drawing up a protocol is not a motive for arrest, because detention is possible for consideration of a case or execution of a decision.

In clause 13.6 of the “Manuals for the work of traffic police” there is a note: “It is prohibited to stop vehicles on sections of roads with limited visibility, before and after turns, immediately before or after the tops of a rise, before intersections, crossings, in the area of ​​​​railway crossings and other dangerous places, except when it is necessary to stop them immediately to avoid undesirable consequences.”

If undesirable consequences occur, the inspector bears full responsibility for them. Suddenly you hear a whistle, but do not see the traffic police officers. Feel free to continue driving in accordance with the rules, since “the requirement to stop must be clear to all road users” (Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation N6 dated January 10, 1994, “Manuals on Traffic Police”, clause 8.3.).

It is important to keep in mind that employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in accordance with Art. 19.3 KRFOBAP has the right to bring to administrative responsibility for disobedience of LEGAL REQUIREMENTS.

We assume that the stop request presented to you was legal. But we can argue about the form... Think about it, what is a repeated demand in an insistent form? This is at least three waves of the baton, five whistles and ten times a loudly pronounced phrase like “Stop, I’ll shoot!”

But even if the traffic police officer managed to do all this, it is unlikely that he would be able to prove in court that he waved five times, whistled three times, and yelled ten times. It is IMPOSSIBLE to prove this with documents (with the presentation of audio-video recordings or photographs taken using aerial photography)! YOU HAVE BEEN STOPPED...

So, the inspector must come up and give his name, position, unit where he works, and also explain the REASON FOR THE STOPPING based on Chapters 4 and 8 of the Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation dated January 10, 1994. N 6, i.e. "Manuals on traffic police."

Hand over the documents to the traffic police inspector in front of witnesses, because rogue traffic police officers often hide one of the documents in their pocket (usually a power of attorney) and claim that it did not exist...

For information: clause 18.7 of the Traffic Police Manual states: during inspection, documents must be handled carefully and not made any marks on them. If money and securities are included in the documents, you must invite the owner to take them himself. After presenting your documents, do not run after the inspector: getting out of the car is your right, but not your obligation.

In what cases should you get out of the car if you are stopped by a traffic police officer? clause 18.4. “Traffic Police Manual” states: Traffic police officers invite drivers to leave the cab (interior) of the vehicle in the following cases:

A) to eliminate a technical malfunction of a vehicle or violations of cargo transportation rules;

B) when there are reasonable grounds to believe that the driver is intoxicated:

C) to carry out (in the presence of the driver) a comparison of the numbers of units and components of the vehicle with the entries in the registration documents;

D) to conduct an inspection of the vehicle and cargo;

D) when drivers or passengers are suspected of committing crimes;

E) in other cases when the participation of drivers is required in preparing the necessary documents or providing assistance to other road users.

Have a good trip behind the wheel of your favorite car! (

The material was collected from various sources, including such a book as “Manual on Communication of the Traffic Police”)