In six months, all Moscow traffic police will be equipped with the credit card swipe machines. Once a driver is pulled over, he will have a choice of paying the violation fee on the spot or rejecting the violation accusation and receiving the normal paperwork. The pay-on-the-spot will be available only to sober drivers and those who did not cross into a criminal behavior with their driving techniques. According to the law, if you received a traffic fine in Russia, you have 10 days to dispute it in the traffic court located in the neighborhood where you received the fine. If the judge finds you guilty - you have 10 days to pay the fine at Sberbank (Russia's largest quasi-private, semi-government bank). If you failed to pay within the 10 days, you may be disallowed to leave the country for international travel and may be jailed for up to 15 days.
Now, imagine a young Russian professional in his early 30-s, or an old professional for that matter. Regardless of age, a modern working Muscovite driving a nice car and speeding in the city of Moscow, on average, makes $10,000 a month. Wasting a day traveling to and presenting at the traffic court to discuss a $50 or a $100 ticket seems stupid; thus, the traffic police bribery, also known as Russian corruption. The new initiative is viewed positively by everyone across the board - the drivers, human rights organizations, Russia's Duma, the President's office, and others. The system should significantly simplify the compliance with the law, and eliminate most of common corruption on Moscow's roads.
Three minor concerns advanced by non-profit groups are insignificant. Viktor Pohmelkin, the president of the Russian Drivers Movement, says that a driver needs to understand that he does not have to pay the fine if he disagrees with it. However, if he knows that he violated the traffic laws, there is nothing wrong with admitting it on the spot; paying the official fine is better than paying a bribe. Viktor Travin, the president of the Union of Drivers Legal Defense, worries that drivers may be pressured into paying the fines by police inspectors against their will. We at Russia Blog do not see any incentive for a police officer to force someone to pay an official fine with money that does not end up in the officer's pocket. The chairman of the Freedom of Choice association Vyacheslav Lysakov agrees with our assessment. He says that "if a person knows his rights - no inspector can pressure him into doing anything. If you drove too fast and don't want to waste time standing in line at a bank - just swipe the card!"
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