Russia bans drinking before driving

A draft law on imposing a complete ban on the consumption of alcohol before driving has been approved at the Lower House of the Russian parliament at the first reading. The initiative put forward by President Dmitri Medvedev provides for the abolition of the so-called concept of the permissible level of alcohol in a driver’s blood.

“Russia is not ready to allow people to drive vehicles after the consumption of even a small amount of alcohol. This triggers real hard drinking before driving,” the Russian President said. The MPs supported unanimously the President’s initiative. 449 out of 450 deputies voted for the document. At the same time the three opposition parties expressed regret that a law that allows people to drive vehicles when their Blood Alcohol Content exceeds 0.3 permille has been in force for the past three years.         

According to the deputy head of the Communist faction, three years ago, the Communists voted against the draft law that allows the above content. Unfortunately, it took so much time to realize its malignancy, the deputy head of the Communist faction, Sergei Reshulsky said. The “Just Russia” faction also voted against the law that allows minimum Blood Alcohol Content of a driver three years ago. “The mentality of the Russians is such that they find it difficult to restrict themselves only to one glass of wine or beer,” said a deputy of the faction during the debate at parliament. The parliamentarians believe that the “dry law” helps to reduce the number of road accidents. The Federation of Automobilists of Russia disagrees with them.

“The draft law has nothing to do with road safety, -  says the head of its Moscow division, Sergei Kanaev. - According to the traffic police, 90 percent of drivers, who consumed alcohol before driving, are “untouchable”, and it’s impossible to institute criminal proceedings against them. Any law designed to upgrade safety in roads should stipulate that punishment is inevitable so that any person, who is involved in road traffic, will be aware that he or she has to bear responsibility for violating traffic regulations. Everyone, regardless whether he is an official or an ordinary driver, should be equal before the law and bear responsibility for violations.”  Moreover, Sergei Kanaev believes that law that bans driving after the consumption of alcohol will help corrupted traffic inspectors to extract bribes from driver who have very small blood alcohol content that has no affect on his coordination.          

The permissible Blood Alcohol Content in many developed countries is much higher than that is allowed by the Russian law, which is now in force. This in the U.S. and Canada is 0.8 permille, while in the European Union it is 0.5 permille.