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By Masha Gessen
(The Moscow Times) Every couple of years, another item is added to the number of documents you have to hand to the traffic police if you are pulled over. It used to be your license and registration. Then people stopped leaving their technical-inspection cards on the windshield for fear they would get stolen and started handing them out the window as well. Then they added the mandatory liability insurance policy. Now, it seems, you may have to add a debit card.
Some people already place a bill -- 100, 500, or 1,000 rubles, depending on the nature of the violation and the make and model of the car they are driving -- in their documents when they hand them to a policeman. That is a way to bypass time-consuming negotiations that go like this:
"That's one severe violation. I could take away your license (impound your car)."
"Isn't there anything we can do?"
"I'll have to fill out the paperwork and make you pay a hefty fine (go to court)."
"But couldn't we settle it right here?"
Or you can pay up front. Or you can say, "Okay, please fill out the paperwork." It seems that more and more people are saying just that. Indem, a foundation dedicated to the study of corruption in Russia, claims that the volume of corrupt business done by the traffic police has fallen by about 50 percent in the last five years. While I used to be the only one among my friends who refused to "settle the matter right here," now most people I know insist on getting the proper paperwork.
The motivation for refusing to give bribes is complex. Some are opposed to corruption on principle -- sometimes because they have seen that police corruption puts ordinary citizens in danger: Just think of the times terrorists have driven trucks full of arms and explosives into cities, bribing traffic cops along the way. Some resist because the part of the ritual where one has to plead with the cop to avoid further punishment is humiliating. Some people do it because the size of bribes has grown out of proportion to actual fines, and it has simply become too expensive. Most people, I think, intend to pay the fine.
But here is the thing. You don't have to pay. Russian traffic police have not come up with any effective mechanism for fine collection. It used to be cops simply impounded your license until you showed up with a receipt demonstrating you had paid the fine. New laws don't allow them to do this for minor violations. You can drive around with any number of outstanding traffic tickets until you decide to sell your car: To clear the registration for the new owner, you'll have to pay the fines.
Other countries have found a variety of ways to enforce traffic fines. Some places, a car can be impounded for outstanding fines. Some places, huge late fees are levied. Some places, you cannot pass technical inspection if you haven't paid up. But here, Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Chekalin has suggested a new way: Pay first, violate later. He is proposing that Russian drivers be required to open a bank account for the payment of fines, which will be withdrawn from those bank accounts when the occasion arises. All you have to do is hand the officer a debit card when you get pulled over.
The advantage is obvious: Instead of creating new police mechanisms, you can make the drivers do the work. The problem is that it would mean that every driver will be presumed guilty of committing violations -- and that fines will once again be paid "on the spot," creating new opportunities for bargaining with the cops, who are likely to offer discounts for paying cash. It seems that even as drivers, in their spontaneous way, are working to reduce corruption, the police are doing what they can to increase it.
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