General characteristics and types of transport crimes

Crimes committed against traffic safety are suppressed and punished because they impinge on the normal functioning of means of transport, which may result in harm to the health or even lives of citizens. In exceptional cases, as a result of committing such criminal acts, a person receives property, moral and organizational harm.

The specifics of the investigation of crimes committed in transport are also regulated by law, therefore the stages of investigation and bringing guilty citizens to justice are contained in legislative acts and cannot be ignored or violated.

Composition and forensic characteristics of the crime

The main illegal act that arises in this area is a person’s deliberate violation of the rules for the safe movement and operation of vehicles and other machines. It is for this reason that the criminalistic elements of a crime are most often determined based on the characteristics of these two offenses.

According to the norms of Russian legislation, the concept of “road traffic accident” can include not only everyday situations, but also a number of exceptional cases that people, by mistake, do not classify as this category of offenses.

1. Collision of two vehicles.
2. Collision of a vehicle with a horse-drawn vehicle or a pedestrian.
3. Passenger falls out of the car.
4. Transport revolution.
5. Other incidents on the road involving vehicles (for example, a car falling off a cliff).

Thanks to such a competent determination, in the event of a threat to road safety occurring or committed, authorized persons can determine the culprit of the accident, who will subsequently be held accountable.
The forensic characterization of a criminal act consists of several interrelated characteristics of the accident, the circumstances of the incident, the personal characteristics of the participants in the incident, in particular, the characteristics of their behavior.

Defense in cases of crimes against traffic safety and transport operation

The defense of a criminal lawyer for transport crimes involves its own specifics. In such cases, an experienced transport lawyer or car lawyer will provide the necessary defense in cases of crimes against traffic safety and operation of transport. Effective defense for transport crimes is possible if you seek legal assistance in a timely manner; the earlier the appeal to a lawyer follows after the act has been committed, the higher the chances of a favorable outcome of the case.

Crimes that impinge on traffic safety and operation of vehicles

Violation of rules regarding traffic safety of certain types of transport

The subject of such an illegal act is means of transport used for general and personal transportation. Any deviation from the rules for operating moving vehicles is considered a violation for which the guilty person may be held accountable.

In particular, such deviations may include:

1. Driving a vehicle through a red traffic light.
2. Failure to follow the established route (for public transport).
3. Deviation from the requirements established by the manufacturer for vehicle maintenance.
4. Unauthorized persons were allowed to drive the vehicle.
5. Failure to take measures aimed at ensuring the safety of transported passengers.
6. A person’s refusal to perform his or her job duties, in the case where such an independent decision of the employee is contrary to the norms of the law (there is a corresponding indication in the job description, certain regulations).
7. A mandatory sign that indicates the presence of an offense is the presence of harmful consequences: causing harm or damage to a person’s health on a large scale (according to the norms of this article, large damage is 1,000,000 rubles), death of a person.
8. As a rule, such guilt is expressed in the form of negligence. The only exceptions are those cases when a person deliberately evades the performance of his official duties, however, even such an unlawful act will be considered committed through negligence, due to the lack of direct intent.

This legislative act provides for the following liability measures:

1. A fine, the amount of which should not exceed 300,000 rubles.
2. Restriction of freedom of a convicted person for a term of up to 4 years.
3. Carrying out forced labor by the convicted person, the maximum period of which should not exceed 2 years.
4. Administrative arrest for a maximum period of six months.
5. Imprisonment for up to 2 years.

Violation of operating and traffic rules

Issues relating to Article 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation are determined by a separate Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court.
A criminal act committed by a guilty person encroaches on the safety of using means of transport - this is the main object of the crime. An additional object of the act is also the life and health of the person who drives the vehicle, is a passenger or an accidental participant in an accident.

Important! The subject of the illegal act is a mechanical vehicle. Moreover, the norms of this article also regulate cars that are used not only for transportation, but also to satisfy other needs. Download for viewing and printing:

Article 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Poor quality repairs of vehicles, release of vehicles into operation with various technical faults

The objects of crimes defined in Article 266 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation are:

1. Poor quality restoration of transport after damage is identified.
2. Putting the machine into operation, despite the fact that the specialists were aware of its poor technical condition.

Car repair means performing work aimed at restoring the functionality of a car or other type of transport that has been damaged.

When considering such cases, the authorized person must establish a cause-and-effect relationship between poor-quality repairs of the vehicle and its release into service, and the resulting negative consequences.

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Article 266 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Rendering of transport means or means of communication unusable

The object of such an illegal act is safe conditions under which normal operation of transport is possible.
The objective side of the unlawful act is the destruction and damage of the vehicle, which may entail the following consequences:

1. Causing material damage on a large scale - the minimum amount of such damage must be at least 1,000,000 rubles.
2. Death of a person or causing serious harm to health.

Violation of rules for the safe operation of vehicles and other machines

Violation of the rules for the operation of motor vehicles or other types of transport provided for by law and the manufacturer, provided that such actions were committed by hooligans, entails bringing the guilty person to justice, the amount of which does not exceed 300,000 rubles.

Kuban Judicial Information Agency

Savchenko V.A., Candidate of Legal Sciences, Associate Professor of the State Maritime University named after. Admiral F.F. Ushakov, honorably retired federal judge

The article was published: Judicial Gazette. 2016. No. 1(55).

The branch of material production that ensures the movement of goods in the process of economic activity of the state is called transport. The modes of transport are: road, rail, water, air and pipeline. Water transport is one of the components and important modes of transport.

Water transport includes sea, river and lake transport. It includes sea, river and lake vessels. The scope of the concept of water transport includes both floating craft and infrastructure facilities - lighthouses, buoys, mooring structures intended for the transport of passengers and cargo, for the extraction of biological resources, and research activities.

Legal relations arising when using water transport are based on constitutional principles, norms of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the Code of Inland Water Transport of the Russian Federation, and other federal laws. Also, these relations are regulated by regulations of the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Russian Federation, and federal executive authorities1.

Based on the Federal Law of July 18, 2011 No. 242 FZ “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation on the Issues of State Control (Supervision) and Municipal Control”, clause 4 of Art. 39 of the Code is stated as follows:

“In order to ensure the safety of navigation, the protection of human life on inland waterways, the safety of port and shipping hydraulic structures and inland waterways, as well as in order to ensure the appropriate quality of services and work in inland water transport, state supervision is carried out in the field of inland water transport "2.

These legal norms determine the rights and obligations of participants in legal relations in the process of using water transport.

Water transport consists of two subtypes - sea and inland water. Both of these subtypes include: ships transporting people and cargo; carrying out research, survey and other work on the sea, rivers, lakes, reservoirs and artificial canals.

The role of water transport for the Russian national economy is immeasurably great. The territory of the country is washed by the waters of 14 seas and three oceans, dotted with numerous rivers and lakes, many of which are navigable. This indicates the enormous natural wealth of our country in water resources and the possibility of developing a network of waterways. In this regard, water transport is an integral and important part of the country’s entire transport supply.

Maritime transport is of strategic importance in the Russian transport system, allowing unhindered communication with other countries of the world. The length of Russia's maritime borders is 44,300 km. with a total length of state borders of 58,600 km. In terms of cargo turnover, it ranks third after railway and pipeline transport.

River routes are used for transporting timber cargo in rafts, for the transport of oil, petroleum products, coal, mineral fertilizers and building materials. The length of exploited inland waterways in Russia is currently 94 thousand km

Currently, our country faces new challenges in the transport system on a global scale: Russia’s accession to the WTO, the increasing role of Russia as a transport corridor between Europe, the Far East region and Asian countries. Due to global climate changes on the planet - the melting of Arctic ice - regular shipping along the Northern Sea Route is being established. Taking into account the great importance of water transport in the development and strengthening of the country’s economic power, there is a need to use it with maximum efficiency. In this regard, there is a need for constant study and elimination of negative factors that hinder its development, minimizing the number of offenses and crimes in this area of ​​state activity.

The length of Russia's maritime borders determines the need to ensure the security of its transport communications, and this, accordingly, gives rise to the need for a sufficient quantity and quality of work by law enforcement agencies, and the presence of an appropriate regulatory and legal framework. In this regard, the real task is to develop a new regulatory framework to replace the outdated one and radically strengthen the relevant security forces, including strengthening in the field of state defense.

It is necessary to take measures to strengthen transport security not only at the national but also at the international level. Studies of the Arctic coast conducted by Russian scientists in recent years have established that the length of the Russian Arctic shelf is much larger than previously thought, and huge mineral reserves have been discovered there. Mining and transportation of mineral resources will lead to the need to expand maritime transport. In turn, the increase in maritime transport should determine its safety.

Transport activity in general and water transport in particular is a complex technological process and ensuring proper law and order in it must be strictly regulated by legal and technical standards. Based on the specifics of using vehicles, the presence of special risks and possible grave consequences in accidents and catastrophes, the legislator identified the elements of transport crimes in a separate Chapter 27 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

This is due to the fact that the number of vehicles is increasing immeasurably, which inevitably leads to an increase in transport accidents, loss of life, and causing significant material damage. This chapter contains a list of crimes that impinge on the safe operation of vehicles. The crimes highlighted in this chapter are united by a single generic object, which is social relations that ensure the safety of traffic and operation of all types of transport.

The norms of the articles contained in Chapter. 27 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, social relations arising when using various types of transport are protected from the threat of causing damage to security facilities. In this regard, the concept of a crime against traffic safety and operation of transport can be defined as a socially dangerous act committed under criminal law, the consequences of which are the violation and infringement of public relations in the field of transport safety. The main objects of criminal legal protection in these norms are: the individual - his rights and freedoms; society - its material and spiritual values; the state - its constitutional system, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Water transport represents a very specific area of ​​operational services. It belongs to the category of special risk, as it is characterized by potential danger during operation and high vulnerability, and is also often a source of man-made and environmental disasters. Incidents involving damage and loss of ships often result in numerous casualties, significant material damage, and significant negative environmental consequences. Violations of the stipulated legal and technical standards, illegal interference in the activities of this type of transport, the so-called “human factor” pose a particular danger.

In Art. 1 of Federal Law No. 16 of 02/09/2007 “On Transport Security” states: “an act of illegal interference is an unlawful action (inaction), including a terrorist act, that threatens the safe operation of the transport complex, resulting in harm to the life and health of people, material damage, or creating the threat of such consequences” 3.

Ensuring public order and public safety at water transport facilities. in accordance with current legislation, are assigned to the internal affairs bodies and internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. They coordinate their work in this direction with other interested ministries and departments. This activity is aimed at protecting the legitimate interests of citizens, protecting state borders, combating smuggling, illegal trafficking of marine biological resources, suppressing offenses in economic activities and the use of federal property in seaports and other criminal manifestations.

Significant functions in this work are assigned to the water police. The main activity of the water police is the fight against crime at water transport facilities, ensuring the safety of life, health, and the safety of citizens and their property. Much attention is paid to anti-terrorist measures, the prevention of riots, terrorist acts and other serious crimes, ensuring public order and security during sports, cultural and socio-political events.

In the transport system and in water transport, in particular, in addition to special ones, other types of crimes are also committed, provided for in various chapters of the Criminal Code - these are, first of all, theft, abuse of official position, fraud, forgery, bribery, causing bodily harm, etc. However, the most common crimes in water transport are theft of other people's property. During the transportation of goods in ports and piers, a significant amount of goods of material value accumulates, which can be the subject of theft. Taking into account the special specifics of the use of water transport, serious difficulties arise in the process of identifying and solving crimes committed. They are associated with the concentration of large human flows, the length of the cargo route and the length of time it spends from the sender to the recipient. In this regard, there are possible consequences of loss of evidence, failure to identify eyewitnesses, witnesses, which complicates operational and investigative work. Therefore, the disclosure and investigation of criminal cases in water transport requires law enforcement officers to have high professional training, experience, the ability to correctly and timely distribute their actions and their working time, great organization and composure.

The activities of internal affairs in water transport are primarily aimed at preventing and identifying these crimes. One of the directions in this work is the fight against offenses and crimes in economic activities and the use of federal property in the seaports of the Russian Federation.

The water police are carrying out preventive and operational measures to suppress attempts to smuggle weapons, narcotic and psychotropic drugs into the country. Measures are being taken to identify crimes against state power and the interests of the civil service, against the interests of the service in commercial and other bodies. At the same time, considerable attention is paid to the prevention, detection and suppression of tax crimes in the field of production, processing and circulation of water resources. The resolution of these issues is entrusted to the units of the Department of Economic Security (DEV) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

The activities of the internal affairs bodies in transport are aimed, in particular, at suppressing offenses in economic activities and the use of federal property in the seaports of the Russian Federation, in the direction of decriminalization of seaports. Measures are being taken to identify crimes against state power and the interests of the civil service, against the interests of the service in commercial and other organizations.

The most dangerous forms of illegal interference in transport activities are terrorist acts. The problems of terrorism at the global and national levels could not but affect water transport. Its sharp aggravation caused the emergence of such a concept as “transport terrorism”. Crimes committed in water transport also include piracy seizures of ships into the ownership of pirates, or with subsequent demands for ransom.

In recent years, the danger of a new type of crime has been growing - cyber attacks on transport control systems. Massive cyber attacks on individual economic entities, and sometimes on entire states, have become an objective reality. The development of the transport system is unthinkable without the introduction of information systems; at the same time, the information systems themselves are very vulnerable. Any unintentional or deliberately created failure in information systems can lead to serious, unpredictable consequences. The dispatch and reception of ships, the transportation of passengers and the transportation of important cargo, bringing dangerous goods into critical condition, etc. can be paralyzed. Often, attackers “infect” information programs with malicious viruses that disable these programs, causing significant damage.

Sometimes intelligence agencies and even governments of individual countries take part in the creation of malicious programs.

Potential cyber attacks have become a major concern in the transportation industry. Solving this problem necessitates both organizational, technical and legislative measures.

Experts estimate that about a quarter of computers connected to the Internet worldwide can be infected and used by attackers to their advantage. In most cases, users themselves are not aware of this. What makes the situation worse is that consumers often do not use special antivirus programs4.

It is necessary to create and use domestic special software systems capable of detecting and destroying malicious viruses; reliable protection of the entire computer network of the country is necessary. It would seem appropriate to legally establish the obligation of all owners of information systems to ensure their reliable protection using modern technologies5.

Some authors believe that in order to increase the level of transport security from new types of threats associated with the development of information technology, it is necessary to legislatively establish administrative responsibility for the failure to use appropriate anti-virus systems.

Supervision over the implementation of legislation in the field of use of water transport is carried out by specialized prosecutor's offices - transport.

Their responsibility includes the need for proper prosecutorial supervision and control over the implementation of laws and regulations. The normative basis for this activity of the prosecutor's office is the implementation of constitutional norms, the Law on the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation. The particular importance of this area of ​​prosecutorial supervision is emphasized, in particular, by the fact that in the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation a special department has been created and is functioning to supervise the implementation of laws in transport and customs, and a corresponding regulation has been issued on the goals and objectives of its creation.

From the text of the said Regulations it follows that “the activities of the Department are aimed at ensuring the rule of law, protecting the rights and freedoms of man and citizen, as well as the interests of society and the state protected by law by organizing and supervising the implementation of laws by federal executive authorities, air control authorities, railway, sea and inland water transport by customs authorities, their officials, as well as compliance with laws and legal acts issued by them”6.

When establishing facts of violations of the law, prosecutors protest illegal acts of officials and water transport authorities, or raise questions before the inquiry and investigative authorities about initiating criminal cases. Thus, Article 37 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, which regulates the rights of the prosecutor in criminal proceedings, in particular, states: “...During pre-trial proceedings in a criminal case, the prosecutor is authorized to:.. 2. make a reasoned decision on sending the relevant materials to the investigative body or inquiry body for resolving the issue of criminal prosecution based on violations of criminal law identified by the prosecutor.”

At the same time, in our opinion, the lack of opportunity under the new criminal procedural legislation for prosecutors to have the right to independently initiate criminal cases hinders the efficiency of the fight against criminal manifestations. As a result of inspections and other forms of obtaining information, prosecutors often have obvious facts of a crime committed, which provide grounds and grounds for initiating a criminal case. However, the prosecutor, who is not authorized by the criminal procedural law to initiate a criminal case, is forced to send materials to the body of inquiry or preliminary investigation for the purpose of initiating a criminal case. If for investigators the prosecutor’s instruction to initiate a criminal case is in fact mandatory, then the prosecutor cannot give such instructions to the investigator. As a result, the time frame for initiating criminal cases from the moment the crimes are committed is slowed down, and, often, unfounded decisions are made to refuse to initiate a criminal case.

The prosecutor, of course, has the right to cancel such decisions, but the investigator is not deprived of the right to make them repeatedly, which leads to red tape, and sometimes to the unreasonable deflection of guilty persons from responsibility. Therefore, in our opinion, legislative infringement of prosecutors’ right to initiate criminal proceedings seems unjustified.

Taking into account that in the field of water transport there is a significant number of cases of self-interest and corruption, we would consider it advisable to legislatively restore the institution of confiscation of property for persons held accountable for these types of crimes. We believe that this measure would have a serious preventive effect and would allow the state to return significant funds illegally withdrawn from state circulation.

In matters of increasing the safety of using water transport and minimizing criminal manifestations in this area, it seems necessary to further develop and improve the legislative framework, increase the role of citizens, public organizations and labor collectives in strengthening the rule of law, as well as educating citizens in the spirit of respect for the law and understanding of the efforts of the state in crime control issues.

1 See: Art. 1 and 2 of the Code of Inland Water Transport of the Russian Federation March 7, 2001 No. 240-FZ.

2 See: clause 4 of article 39 of the Code of Inland Water Transport of the Russian Federation (as amended by Federal Law dated July 18, 2911 No. 242-FZ).

3 See: “Russian newspaper dated 02/14/2007.

4 See: From PIN code to cyber warfare. Businessman Evgeny Kaspersky talks about the need to create the CyberIAEA. URL: https://www.izvestia.ru/news/526680

5 See: Motin V.V. Problems of ensuring transport security during the development of modern information technologies. Transport Law 2013. No. 2. P. 54.

6 See: URL: https://www.computerra.ru /focus/317787.

Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. M.: Eksmo Publishing House, 2015. P. 26.

Crime Investigation Methodology

When conducting an investigation into the circumstances of an accident on the road, it is important for specialists to correctly determine all the nuances of what happened, since recording accidents in a unified accounting register depends on this.

The initial stage of the investigation consists of several separate procedures:

1. Participants in an accident should not leave the scene of the accident. They must call traffic police officers, who will inspect the scene of the incident and draw up all the necessary documents.
2. If the driver fled the scene, authorized persons who arrived at the scene of the accident must inspect the scene of the accident, interview all persons involved in the incident or witnesses, and order examinations.

After the initial measures have been carried out, at the direction of the traffic police officers or at the request of the court, automotive and forensic examinations are scheduled.

During such an investigation, it is allowed to conduct an investigative experiment, which will make it possible to determine the culprit of the accident and establish all the circumstances of the incident.

Drivers caught drinking and drinking in the United States often get behind the wheel after drinking beer and some hard liquor at the same time, according to research. They are also characterized by the fact that while they have one or more convictions for traffic offenses committed while intoxicated while driving, they also have one or more offenses while sober on their record. This group is middle-aged, has low socioeconomic status, low levels of education, a broken marriage, and is characterized by heavy drinking (often in small restaurants). Specific conflict circumstances for them are trips at night (especially on Fridays and Saturdays) after visiting various hot spots. The most common signs of an accident for them are the following: hitting a stationary obstacle, leaving the roadway, hitting another vehicle at an intersection, damage to the front part of their own vehicle.

Since the establishment of the relationship between general crime and negative behavior that stands out in traffic, as well as after research, it has been found that as the individual tendency to commit general criminal offenses increases, the number of traffic offenses with injuries and deaths increases. The number of accidents when making “left” trips, the number of attempts by vehicle drivers to evade responsibility and escape from the scene of an accident, and the number of violations of the law on obtaining a driver’s license are growing. Drivers who stand out for their behavior in traffic, those detained while intoxicated, and criminal drivers trying to escape from the scene of an accident are also distinguished by their more frequent commission of general social offenses. Criminals with a variety of criminal offenses on their record are more likely to be seen in traffic than other criminals. By analogy with the mentioned hypothesis to explain the relationship between biographical data and the reliability of road behavior, the author of the work sees the relationship between general crime and transport crime in the fact that behavior that is unadapted in both of these areas has the same characterological basis.

Generalization

The question of whether the screening of driver candidates and drivers should be carried out cannot be placed on the shoulders of some empirical science, it must be decided by society. With a corresponding positive decision, the question certainly arises about the possibilities of optimizing the criteria for assessing driving suitability. The correctness and objectivity of a psychological examination should be assessed by whether the number of erroneous drivers and conflict circumstances with psychological screening will be less than without it.

Currently, there is still no uniform criterion for driving suitability. Screening of candidates largely comes down to exclusion due to medical unsuitability. In transport psychology there is the concept of drivers’ personal predisposition to accidents, which is a posteriori probabilistic based on statistical data on the increase in the number of accidents over a certain time. The concept of “getting into an accident” derived from this is unconvincing, since drivers who have many accidents in one observation period will, in the absolute majority, reliably not have the same number of accidents in the next observation period.

On the other hand, there is the concept of psychological predisposition to conflicts as individual reduced safety, which does not exclude getting into an accident. From this, a conclusion is drawn about the positive significance of driver compliance, which is based on the ability to adapt in road traffic, including two primary criteria - the speed of achieving the goal (transport performance) and traffic safety.

The driver's fitness score is determined by an individual's placement in relation to the statistical norm. It is assumed that, along with the overall effectiveness of the indicators, a differentiated assessment of personal characteristics can be used. The empirically obtained results mainly indicate that these methods are indeed suitable for the transport psychological assessment of driver compliance. The most indicative signs of visual ability, concentration of attention, reaction speed of choice, certain recognition abilities and personal characteristics, as well as systematized groups of signs of driving behavior, but only in control trips. In view of the relatively objective, but almost non-individually specific connotation of such a method as the analysis of biographical data, as well as the almost subjective in its essence method of questionnaire survey, their data can be taken into account and deserve a positive assessment.

Age and experience have a direct relationship with road reliability. To specifically test the effectiveness of these two parameters, serious methodological developments are required, although they are not necessary for solving practical issues in the field of assessing driving suitability. Analysis of the results of special tests of the effectiveness of this connection confirmed that young age is a relatively more serious factor in relation to driving inconsistency according to the adaptability criterion than short driving experience. On the other hand, between age and accidents, in addition to the group of drivers under 25 years of age, there is also a connection in the group of drivers over 60 years of age, despite the completely different causes of actual and possible accidents.

The connection between the number of common crimes and the number of unacceptable actions that stand out in traffic, fraught with or resulting in road accidents, has been repeatedly confirmed. At the same time, both persons with a general tendency to commit crimes, who have a relatively high inability to cope with road traffic, and persons with sharply negative behavior that stands out in traffic, which quite often manifests itself in the social sphere, are distinguished. Drivers under the influence of alcohol are potential traffic criminals and a healthy society should uncompromisingly deprive them of their driving licenses forever.