State Duma prepares to reject bill on penalties for dangerous driving

The bill was deemed 'no longer relevant'

The State Duma Committee on Criminal and Administrative Legislation recommended rejecting the bill on penalties for dangerous driving, arguing that the document 'has lost its relevance.' The plenary session hearing is scheduled for November 12, reports Kommersant.

Ten years without sanctions

The term 'dangerous driving' was introduced into the traffic rules back in 2016, yet no sanctions for it were ever written into the Administrative Offenses Code. The latest attempt was a 2024 LDPR bill providing for a fine of 3,000–5,000 rubles for a first offense and license suspension for up to three months for a repeat offense. The government supported the initiative, and in October 2024 the document was passed in its first reading.

Why the committee is against it

The committee points to the 'legal uncertainty' of the term: the government was asked to refine the rules but did not do so, and the Interior Ministry is not dealing with the issue. 'Before proposing liability, there need to be clear criteria in the traffic rules', a source told Kommersant. The deputies consider license suspension too harsh a punishment, and in their view the 2025 crackdowns on other violations are sufficient.

The problem of criteria and the police workaround

Maxim Kadakov, editor-in-chief of Za Rulyom, calls the impossibility of defining the signs of dangerous driving the key problem: 'You cannot tell where the behavior of a normal driver ends and where rudeness begins.' In his assessment, rejecting the bill is logical, but 'the situation is hopeless' — road bullies remain on the roads, and it is unclear how to fight them. Meanwhile, the police have found a workaround: since 2025, courts have been applying Article 267.1 of the Criminal Code ('Actions threatening the safe operation of vehicles'), which provides for penalties up to actual prison terms.