Cameras grow in streets like mushrooms after rain
According to the Federal Service of Bailiffs, in 2019 the number of fines issued to car owners by the traffic police increased by 14 million and amounted to 142.1 million penalties. At the same time, experts believe that drivers did not begin to violate the rules more often. The reason is the increase in the number of road cameras.
So, in Moscow, the number of installed cameras increased by 15-20% from 2017 to 2019 . In other regions of the Russian Federation it even doubled over the same period. The fines, therefore, increase in proportion to the cameras. However, many drivers protest against the illegal installation of cameras and refuse to pay penalties. And here is the result — 35 million orders for debt collection totaling 29 billion rubles were sent to the FSSP, 10 billion of which have not yet been collected.
Drivers have a good reason for protests. Various public organizations have repeatedly conducted studies on the subject of compliance with laws regarding the installation of road cameras in the regions of Russia. Director of the National Public Center for Traffic Safety Sergei Kanaev tells about the results of such monitoring at the Moscow Ring Road:
In 2018, we monitored the cameras on the Moscow Ring Road, as a result of which it turned out that about 90% of them were installed not in accordance with GOST, without warning signs. Drivers simply do not see them. The traffic police constantly say that they will not establish signs, you just have to follow the rules. And drivers in protest against this practice do not pay fines.
But the story does not end there. Private cameras for video recording of traffic violations are a legal option to hold car owners accountable under the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. That is, private enterprises conclude contracts with the authorities for equipping roads with cameras and receive a certain amount from each fine issued. Experts of the “Za Rulyom” portal estimated that, for example, the MVS Group company, which has a state contract, puts 233 rubles in its pocket with each fine receipt. Considering that this company has established a thousand cameras under the contract, each of which fixes hundreds of violations daily, the fees received by business owners can reach about 23 million rubles per day.
Thus, we see here a mutually beneficial partnership between business and the state, as befits a capitalist country. The working people give their material goods to one or another representative of the bourgeoisie, in the form of deductions at the enterprise, levies for housing and communal services, fines of the traffic police, issued by illegal cameras.