The State Traffic Safety Inspectorate will stop imposing fines for sideboards and gas equipment
The State Traffic Safety Inspectorate has prepared a new regulation on the control of cars, construction of which was modified. The relevant document is posted on the Federal portal of normative legal acts.
The innovation is supposed to make life easier for the drivers who decided to change the construction of their cars. For example, to install the gas equipment, non-standard wheels, the winch for off-road driving or “cangaroo”. We would remind you that now in order to agree on additional equipment of a vehicle, car owners have to visit traffic police and test laboratories several times and spend dozens of thousands of rubles and a couple of months.
According to the new regulations, the car owner will have to come to the traffic police only once and show only two documents – a certificate for the component and a statement-declaration of its installation at the car service. After all the necessary checks, the driver will get a “certificate of conformity of the vehicle with the changes, made in its construction, to the safety requirements”, on the basis of which the officers will make a record to the vehicle registration certificate and will issue a new one. If the tech inspection inspector finds any discrepancies, the car owner will be sent to the laboratory for additional expertise. The tuned cars on the roads will be still controlled by the traffic police. Unauthorized changes to the car threaten the owner with a fine of Br500. And in case of repeated violation one may face administrative arrest and termination of vehicle registration. However, such measures are used even today.
The adjustment of the regulatory framework was undertaken by the traffic police after a wave of inspections of car owners who made changes in the design of vehicles in Russia in 2016. It all began with the fact that the now former head of the State Traffic Police Viktor Nilov ordered to see to it that the roads are cleared of buses with berths, trucks with homemade trailer mounts, homemade limousines, etc. But the traffic cops interpreted the authorities’ orders in their own way: they began fining and deregistering SUVs with reinforced suspension, big tires, which are actively used because of bad roads, and also cars with LPG equipment.
The situation has caused mass indignation of car owners. After a series of protests, the State Duma turned to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev for help, and the traffic police, admitting last October “the excesses on the ground,” promised to prepare new regulations and spell out clear rules in the relevant documents.
The new decree is designed to remove unsafe vehicles from the roads, while simplifying the lives of drivers who want to legalize the installation of gas-fueled equipment, non-standard wheels, bumpers, etc. The current procedure, which includes several visits to the traffic police, test labs, can take several months and cost citizens in the tens of thousands of rubles. Now, the car owner will only have to visit the traffic police once, presenting two documents: a certificate for a component, such as installed gas equipment, and a statement-declaration of its installation in the car service, the newspaper reports.
After that, the tech inspection inspector will check if the allowed mass of the car or its base (for instance, when trying to make a limousine) was not increased, and if a non-standard engine or body was not installed. According to the idea, after all the procedures the car owner will receive “certificate of conformity of the vehicle with the changes made in its construction to the safety requirements”. Based on this document a modification will be added to DVT with a note on the changes of construction and a new DVT will be issued.
In case any violations are detected, the vehicle will be sent to the laboratory to undergo an expertise, which will result in a package of documents for the traffic police. The State Automobile Inspection prepares the administrative regulations, which are adopted by the order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in order to include the described procedure in the list of public services.
Can I put a grill on the Niva and other cars?
The cost of the grill is probably justified, but in some cases it may lead to higher expenses, if it is installed illegally. But in what cases does that happen and is it allowed to put a grill on modern or old cars, in particular SUVs, including Niva and Chevrolet Niva, crossovers, what is the penalty for this and what other unpleasant bonus awaits us?
The answer lies in the PDD and Tehreglamentet: if briefly, the first prohibits updating the design owner of the car, and the second – the installation of a car from the factory kanguryan. Let’s understand!
I want to put a grill, is it possible and what prohibits it?
No. But only if it is not stipulated by the design. Point 7.18 of the Basic provisions of traffic rules says that it is forbidden to make changes to the design of the car without registering them in the traffic police.
Niva and the majority of other SUVs and crossovers are cars, which were never equipped with sideboards, if we are not talking about one-of-a-kind or specially designed models for special operating conditions, but even those never happened in history, as we know.
A kangaroo is not a construction!
The thing is, a grill is not a constructional element, if it is not specified by the manufacturer. It is an accessory. But it is easier to consider this subtlety with a citation from the Technical Regulations:
“Changes in the construction of a vehicleA technical regulation “- exclusion of foreseen or installation of components not foreseen by the construction parts and equipment items provided for or not provided for by the construction of the vehicle items of equipment, made after the release of the vehicle in circulation and affecting the safety of road traffic.
Is the grill a piece of equipment? Yes. Does it influence the road safety? Absolutely!Only not for the safety of the driver, but for the pedestrian in case of a head-on collision with the latter. And in general, the “kangurins” were originally invented in Australia to reduce the consequences of accidents with wild animals – for the car consequences, of course. It is possible to guess about it already by the name of this device.
And if you register it in GIBDD?
We have already described the procedure for registering the changes made in our special article about it. Briefly, it is quite expensive and time-consuming: you need to pass the expertise at all for this possibility, get a permit for its results, then make changes, but only in the organization that has a license for this, then again pass the examination, get a certificate and only then register all this thing in the traffic police.
But even if you decide to use such procedure, you will be disappointed at the very first stage, because you will not get a license for fitting the grill, since it affects the traffic safety and is prohibited. This design change cannot be officially registered.
What shall we do?
In fact, there is nothing to do, if, as we noted above, the grill is not installed from the factory. First of all, find it out – in case your SUV model comes with it. This is only relevant for fairly old models, as it is simply forbidden to import new ones to Russia with a grill because of the same non-compliance with the Technical Regulations.
Oh yes, about old cars – if your off-road, whether Niva or good (and no one says that Niva bad) foreign cars off-road, more than 30 years of age, the provisions of the Technical Regulations do not apply to it (Section I, paragraph 3 of the Technical Regulations), although the essence does not change – a car with a cangarounger in the traffic police register will still impossible.
There is one more indulgence – if the car is registered in other country and imported to Russia with a grill for less than six months (clause 3 of section I of the Technical Regulations).
There is a solution!
But if you want to put a grill only as a decorative element, we have good news for you. According to the Technical Regulations you may put a grill on any car if it is made of plastic. To be more exact – it is allowed even from wood, plastic, foam plastic, cardboard. But even from absorbent cotton or Christmas tinsel, because the regulations only forbid kangaroo from steel and other materials with the similar strength characteristics.
Here we need to quote:
11. It is forbidden to install on vehicles of categories M1 and N1 structures that project forward relative to the line of the bumper corresponding to the outer contour of the projection of the vehicle on the horizontal plane of the supporting surface, made of steel or other materials having equivalent strength characteristics. This requirement does not apply to the design, provided a standard equipment vehicle TR TS 018/2011 23 means and (or) passed the assessment of compliance in the prescribed manner, as well as the metal bars weighing less than 0.5 kg, designed to protect only the headlights, and the state registration plate and its mounting elements.
Complicated about the projection? Actually, simple. The figure below shows what changes in the structure should not protrude, and it is obvious that a bullwhip belongs to them.
I still want a steel grill on my Niva!
Well, if you have nevertheless decided to put a grill on a vehicle not intended for this purpose, then you will be fined – it is quite small, 500 rubles, and in some cases you can get by with a warning. This is stipulated by Article 12.5 Part 1 of the CAO for the introduction of innovations in the design of the vehicle. But that is not all that can wait for you. The traffic police in recent years often practice the cancellation of registration for unregistered changes in the design of the car.
