Fighting Fatal Traffic Accidents: Why the Verkhovna Rada Criticized the Abolition of Insignificance for Speeding

The Verkhovna Rada is considering draft law No. 15348, which proposes to significantly strengthen administrative liability for speeding. The document provides for differentiated fines depending on the degree of speeding, increased liability for repeat offenders, as well as a number of other changes to the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses.

As reported by the "Judicial and Legal Newspaper", the draft law proposes to supplement the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses with a new Article 122-6, which will exclusively define violations related to exceeding established speed limits for vehicles.

The draft law provides for a differentiated system of fines depending on how much the driver exceeded the speed limit. In particular:

• for exceeding by more than 20 km/h, a fine of 680 UAH is proposed;
• more than 40 km/h — 2,040 UAH, more than 60 km/h — 2,720 UAH;
• more than 80 km/h — 3,400 UAH.

At the same time, for drivers who have been held administratively liable five or more times within a year for exceeding speed by more than 60 or 80 km/h, the draft law provides for a fine of 17,000 UAH (1,000 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens).

Despite the need to strengthen liability for speeding, the draft law received a number of significant comments. The Main Scientific and Expert Department of the Apparatus of the Verkhovna Rada agreed that current sanctions no longer correspond to the degree of social danger of such violations, but drew attention to several provisions of the document that, according to experts, require refinement.

What comments did the draft law receive

One of the main comments concerns the proposal to deprive drivers of the possibility to be exempted from administrative liability due to the insignificance of the offense.

Insignificance of the act is a formal legal category applied in cases where the act formally contains signs of an administrative offense, but the harm caused to public interests is so insignificant that administrative penalties are not required. According to experts, it is not advisable to completely exclude the possibility of applying Article 22 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses, since similar situations may arise in cases of speeding.

In addition, the conclusion states that enshrining directly in Article 22 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses the prohibition of exemption from liability due to insignificance for certain violations significantly narrows the possibilities of ensuring the principle of individualization of legal responsibility, guaranteed by Article 61 of the Constitution of Ukraine. There is also concern that such a prohibition will apply to the entire new Article 122-6 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses, although it covers offenses with different degrees of social harmfulness.

As an example, experts cite a situation where a driver exceeded the speed limit by 21–22 km/h in a section of road where a temporary 10 km/h limit was set during repairs. In this case, the actual speed of the vehicle would be about 31–32 km/h. If the repair work has already been completed but the road sign has not yet been removed, such an excess would hardly cause harmful consequences. At the same time, after the adoption of the draft law, it will be impossible to take such circumstances into account when deciding on liability.

Fine payment mechanism

Comments also concern the proposed changes to Article 307 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses.

The draft law allows paying 50% of the fine within ten days after the delivery of the ruling for certain speeding violations.

However, experts remind that for violations recorded by automatic photo and video cameras, a similar procedure is already provided for by Articles 279-1 and 300-1 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses.

Because of this, the new version may create legal uncertainty regarding the relationship between general and special norms. Therefore, the conclusion recommends clarifying that the new rules do not apply to rulings issued automatically.

In particular, the parliament also registered an alternative draft law on strengthening liability for violations of traffic rules. The alternative draft law No. 15348 would introduce harsher sanctions for repeated fatal traffic accidents, including imprisonment for up to 12 years and revocation of driver's licenses for 15 years.

However, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Law Enforcement Activities at an extraordinary meeting on July 15 considered draft law No. 15348 "On Amendments to the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses Regarding Strengthening Liability for Actions Leading to Injuries and Deaths on Roads." Following the review, the committee recommended that the Verkhovna Rada adopt the document as a basis in the first reading.

At the same time, the committee recommended rejecting the alternative draft law No. 15348-1 "On Amendments to the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses and the Criminal Code of Ukraine Regarding Strengthening Liability for Actions Leading to Deaths and Injuries on Roads."

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