What repeated violation of traffic rules means
According to the article 4.6 “The code of the Russian Federation about administrative offences” from 30.12.2001 N 195-FZ the repeated violation is the one which is committed within the period of punishment for the first violation. This period is 1 year from the date of execution of the decision on the imposition of an administrative penalty.
How to count a year?
The cherished term of 1 year shall be counted from the date of termination of execution of the decision on assignment of an administrative penalty. In other words, the period shall be counted from the moment of:
Payment of the fine (if a fine is imposed as a punishment). Even if the fine is paid ahead of time, within 10 days before the entry into force of the decision on the imposition of punishment. By the way, during this period there is a 50% discount on the payment of some fines for violations of traffic rules (RF traffic regulations);
The end of the term of deprivation of a driving license.
How repeatability is checked
Due to the introduction of unified electronic databases of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate (STSI), the presence of a citizen’s similar offenses for the year, the STSI inspector can establish immediately, when drawing up a protocol on an administrative offense. In this case the penalty is not imposed. The documents are submitted to the duty unit, to decide on the punishment or referral of the case to the court. The fact of repeated offence is reported to the motorist after the report is submitted to the police station. Accordingly, the imposed administrative penalty is changed.
What else you should know
According to the current legislation, repeated is not only a violation of the same type, which was completely earlier within one year, but also any other violation, for which an administrative penalty is provided under the articles of the CAO RF. That is, it matters the very fact: whether a citizen has been held administratively liable during the last year or not. Whether he is a law-abiding citizen, a first-time offender, or systematically violates the law. However, specialized articles of the CAO RF, dedicated to penalties for violations of traffic rules, specify the first and second, more severe in the case of repeated violation, measures of responsibility for a particular violation of traffic rules provided for by this article. And only repeated driving of a vehicle (TC) in a state of intoxication falls under a separate article 264.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. For repeated drunkenness – criminal liability For repeated driving a car in a state of intoxication there comes criminal liability. Under Art. 264.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for this offense provides for deprivation of driving license for up to 3 years and 200-300 thousand rubles fine (or in the amount of the convicted person’s income for 1-2 years); or up to 480 hours of compulsory labor; or up to 2 years of forced labor; or up to 2 years imprisonment.
Comparative analysis of penalties
If a person has already been punished for an offense and commits it again, it means that he has not learned his lesson about the need to obey the rules of the road. And therefore the second time is punished more severely. As a rule, repeat offenses are punishable by:
a) a larger fine of 2-2.5 thousand rubles, for speeding 40-60 km/h (Art.12.7, paragraph 6 of the CAO RF); 5 thousand rubles, for most articles; 10 thousand rubles, for driving a vehicle with a mass of more than 12 tons on public roads without special payment to compensate for the damage caused by them (Art.12.21.3, paragraph 2 of the CAO RF).
b) or deprivation of the driver’s license for: 1-3 months, for driving a car not technically inspected and/or not registered in the prescribed manner (Art. 12.1, p.1.1 of the CAO RF);
4-6 months, for driving through a red light (Article 12.12, paragraph 3 of the CAO RF);
1 year, for violation of rules for crossing a railway crossing (Article 12.10, clause 3 of the CAO RF);
for speeding over 60 km/h (Article 12.7, clause 7 of the CAO RF);
for driving into the oncoming traffic lane or streetcar tracks (Article 12.15, clause 5 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation);
for driving in the oncoming direction on a one-way road (Article 12.16, paragraph 3.1 of the CAO RF).
Innovations as easing of punishment
If committing a repeated administrative offence is fixed by special automatic devices (certified devices of video surveillance), the only possible penalty is a fine of 5 thousand rubles, and not deprivation of driving license for one year, in three cases:
for exceeding the established speed limit by more than 60 km/h (Art.12.7, paragraph 7);
for driving into the oncoming traffic lane or streetcar tracks (Article 12.15, clause 5 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation);
For driving in the oncoming direction on a road with one-way traffic (art. 12.16, item 3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation)
The harsher punishment for the repeated administrative offence is quite predictable. It is better to learn the lesson from the first time and change your driving style to the less risky one, in order not to find yourself isolated from the society, as the criminal element threatening its safety. If you systematically violate the traffic rules established by law, it is quite real to lose the possibility to drive your car for a long three years.
Repeated violation of traffic rules
In this article we will talk about what repeated violation of traffic rules means, as well as the terms within which the driver can be brought to stricter responsibility.
As a rule, the repeated violation of traffic rules results in a more severe penalty, but it is imposed not for all violations of the rules.
Violations, at which “recurrence” is taken into account.
So, the penalty for repeated violation of traffic rules can be applied in the following cases:
| № | Violation | Penalty for 1st offence | Penalty for 2nd offence | Penalty for 1st offence Article in 2nd offence Article in 3rd offence | Penalty due to 3rd offence Article at 4th offence |
| 1 | Driving an unregistered vehicle | 12.1 ч.1 | 12.1 ч.1 1 | ||
| 2 | Speeding 40-60 km/h | 12.9 ч.3 | 12.9 ч.6 | ||
| 3 | Exceeding the speed by 60-80 km/h | 12.9 ч.4 | 12.9 ч.7 | 264 2 part 1 of the Criminal Code | 264 2 part 2 of the Criminal Code |
| 4 | Exceeding the speed by 80 km/h and more | 12.9 ч.5 | 12.9 ч.7 | 264 2 part 1 of the Criminal Code | 264 2 part 2 of the Criminal Code |
| 5 | Crossing a railroad track outside a railway crossing, entering a railway crossing at a closed or closing barrier or at a prohibited signal of a traffic light or a crossing guard on duty, stopping or parking at a railway crossing | 12.10 ч.1 | 12.10 ч.3 | ||
| 6 | Driving under a forbidding traffic light signal or a forbidding gesture of a traffic conductor | 12.2 ч.1 | 12.12 ч.3 | ||
| 7 | Driving into the oncoming traffic lane or into the streetcar tracks of the oncoming direction (except for avoiding an obstacle) | 12.15 ч.4 | 12.15 ч.5 | 264 2 part 1 of the Criminal Code | 264 2 part 2 of the Criminal Code |
| 8 | Driving in the oncoming direction on a road with one-way traffic | 12.16 ч.3 | 12.16 ч.3 1 | ||
| 9 | Driving a vehicle with maximum permissible weight exceeding 12 tons without payment of fee to compensate for the damage caused to public roads of federal importance | 12.21 3 ч.1 | 12.21 3 ч.2 | ||
| 10 | Driving a vehicle in a state of intoxication | 12.8, 12.26 | 264 1 part 1 of the Criminal Code | 264 1 part 2 of the Criminal Code | |
| 11 | Driving a motor vehicle by a driver deprived of the right to drive vehicles | 12.7 ч.2 | 12.7 ч.4 | 264 3 part 1 of the Criminal Code | 264 3 part 2 of the Criminal Code |
Note. All Code of Administrative Offences articles listed in the third column of the table (for the first violation) provide for penalties only in the form of an administrative fine, deprivation of rights, administrative detention and compulsory works. Therefore, further in this article will be considered only repeat violations after the listed penalties.
How long is a repeat violation considered?
To understand what repeated violation of traffic rules means we should consider one more notion:
Article 4.6. The period of time during which a person is considered to have been subjected to an administrative penalty
A person who is imposed an administrative penalty for committing an administrative offence shall be considered as subjected to this penalty from the date of entry into legal force of the decision on the imposition of an administrative penalty until the expiry of one year from the date of termination of this decision.
Thus, an offence is repeated if it is committed in the period between:
- the entry into force of the resolution on the imposition of an administrative penalty;
- the end of 1 year from the date of termination of the execution of the decision.
With the beginning of the term of “repetition” everything is simple. The decision to impose a fine is made by a traffic police officer or a judge, the decision to deprive the license, administrative arrest or compulsory works – only by a judge. The document enters into force after 10 days, which are given for appeal.
It is more complicated with the termination, because it is necessary to find out from which moment to count the year:
- In the case of paying a fine, the time limit is counted from the date of payment (from June 22, 2021, even if the fine is paid before the effective date of the decree).
- In the case of deprivation of license, the term is counted at the moment when the driver takes the license from the traffic police.
- In the case of administrative detention or compulsory works, the time is counted from the moment the detention or works are completed.
Note 1 . If the driver fails to pay the fine, the term will be calculated according to a more complicated scheme, discussed in a separate article:
Note 2 . If the driver does not surrender the license to the traffic police after the deprivation, it will be considered a repeated violation. The same applies to the end of the period of deprivation of liberty. It is the moment when the driver received the license in his hands (after passing the exams) that matters. It is only from that day that 1 year begins to run.
Thus, if the driver is caught for the same violation of the rules within a year from the moment of “completion” of administrative punishment, he will receive a more severe punishment.
Attention! If the previous violation was criminal (Article 264, 264 1 , 264 2 , 264 3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), the violation is considered to be repeated for as long as the driver is considered to have been convicted. That is, within 3 years of the end of incarceration or within 1 year of the end of other penalties.
Who will be held liable for the repeated violation if the first violation was recorded by an automatic camera?
Above in this article we considered the situation when the same driver committed the same traffic violation twice. However, in practice it is possible to meet and more complicated cases.
For example, Tatiana drives a car, which is registered to her husband – Oleg . At the same time she allows exceeding the speed by 70 km/h, which is fixed by a camera working in automatic mode.
In the described situation not the driver, but the owner of the vehicle is held liable (part 1 of article 2.6.1 of the CAO):
1. To administrative responsibility for administrative offences in the field of road traffic and administrative offences in the field of territory improvement, stipulated by the laws of the subjects of the Russian Federation, committed with the use of vehicles, in case of fixation of these administrative offences by special technical means, operating in automatic mode, which have functions of photo and film shooting, video recording, or by photo and film shooting, video recording means Owners (owners) of vehicles are involved.
That is, the violation recorded by an automatic camera is the first for the owner of the car, and not for the person who was actually behind the wheel.
Let’s return to our example. A decree for a violation will be issued in the name of the owner of the car – Oleg.
If a few months later Oleg will exceed the speed limit by 60-80 km/h, it will be repeated and he will get his license revoked. In this case, in fact, it will be the first violation.
As for Tatiana, if she exceeded the speed limit by 60-80 km/h, it will be her first violation.
That is the way it is by default. And many car owners who trust the control of other people get into a similar unpleasant situation.
In practice, there is a possibility to fix the situation, that is to “rewrite” the fine on the driver who was actually behind the wheel. However, you should take care of this in advance. Let’s refer to paragraph 2 of Article 2.6.1 of the CAO:
2. The owner (proprietor) of a vehicle shall be released from administrative liability if In the course of consideration of the appeal against the resolution on the case of an administrative offence, issued in accordance with Part 3 of Article 28.6 of this Code, the data contained therein is confirmed that at the time of fixing the administrative offence the vehicle was in the possession or use of another person or at this moment had withdrawn from its possession as a result of unlawful actions of other persons.
So, if a car owner has received a fine for a violation of the rules and realizes that he was not behind the wheel at the time of the violation, the following should be done:
1. You need to file a complaint to the division of the traffic police, whose employees imposed the fine.
2. In the text of the complaint it should be indicated that at the time of the violation the other driver was behind the wheel of the car.
3. It makes sense to attach to the text of the complaint the documents confirming the right of the other driver to dispose of the vehicle (MTPL policy, in which this driver is entered, power of attorney, rental agreement, etc.).
4. The driver who was behind the wheel must confirm to the traffic police that it was he who was behind the wheel.
If everything is done correctly, the fine will be “rewritten” from the car owner to the driver.
That is, if Oleg and Tatiana had timely appealed to the traffic police, the fine for the first violation would have been imposed on Tatiana.
And for the violation, which Oleg committed later, he would have been prosecuted as for the first one, not as for the repeated violation.
Examples of repeated violations
Let’s look at a few examples:
On April 30, 2020, Andrei drove into the oncoming lane for the first time. A trial was held on May 15, 2020. A penalty in the amount of 5,000 rubles was imposed (paragraph 4 of Article 12.15 of the CAO). Andrei paid the fine on May 30, 2020.
If Andrew drove into the oncoming traffic lane again on September 1, 2020, he won’t get away with the fine. He will be deprived of driving license for 1 year (paragraph 5 of Article 12.15 of the Administrative Code).
If he drove into the wrong lane on May 31, 2021 or later, the punishment won’t be repeated, as more than a year passed.
If Andrey drives into the oncoming lane on May 7, 2020, the violation will not be considered as repeated, because the trial has not yet taken place and no ruling has been made.
On April 30, 2020, Bronislav exceeded the speed limit by 41 km/h and was fined in the amount of 1,000 rubles (Part 3 of Article 12.9 of the Administrative Code). The ruling was drawn up by a traffic police officer at the scene of the violation. The fine was paid on the same day.
If Bronislav committed the violation till April 30, 2021, it will be repeated.
On April 30, 2020, Vadim was caught by the traffic police while intoxicated.
On May 5, 2020, Vadim was caught driving while intoxicated again, but since the trial of the first case has not yet taken place, the violation is treated as a first offense.
The trial of the first case took place on May 20, 2020, and the license was suspended for 14 months. As of May 30, the violations are considered repeat offenses.
The second case was tried on June 1, 2018, and a 16-month license suspension was imposed.
Vadim took his time turning in his license to the traffic police and did not bring it in until July 12, 2020. From that date, the period of deprivation of liberty is calculated.
The period of deprivation of liberty ended on January 12, 2023, but Vadim was unable to pass the exam on the first try. As a result, he received his license only on February 8, 2023. During the year after that date, the violations will be considered repeated.
That is, in this example, the violations are repeat violations from May 30, 2020 to February 8, 2024.
I’m sure the examples have allowed you to understand what repeat traffic violations mean and when they can occur. However, if you still have questions, write them in the comments to the article.
Good luck on the roads!
An expert in automobile law in Russia. More than 11 years of experience in studying automotive regulations and advising drivers. He is the author of analytical articles and training courses. Head of the project PDD Master (pddmaster.ru).
