Addressing certain issues of administrative and legal regulation of liability for violation of legal requirements for the safety of vehicle operation in Ukraine

Abstract

Unfortunately, the state of law and order on the roads of Ukraine is extremely disappointing, and the sad statistics of road accidents and people injured in them are quite convincing. It is clear that this situation is not normal and poses a threat to individuals, including Ukrainian citizens, as well as to the public and state interests in general. The urgency and importance of road safety issues is emphasised by both academics and the official authorities, who have a strategic vision of the key issues in this area and ways to address them. However, despite this, no significant positive results have been achieved so far.

There are many problems that prevent effective road safety, not least of which is the large number of gaps and shortcomings in the current legislation that need to be addressed. Particular attention should be paid to improving administrative liability for violations of vehicle operation rules by drivers and passengers. The relevance of these particular aspects of road safety is due to the fact that the use of vehicles with technical malfunctions, converted in violation of the requirements established by law, causes a significant number of road accidents, and violation of the rules for the use of passive safety equipment (in particular, seat belts) leads to an increase in the number of people injured in road accidents, as evidenced by the statistics provided by the Department of Patrol Police of Ukraine

In view of the above, the article proposes some steps to improve administrative liability under Article 121 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences. Obviously, improvement of the road traffic safety regime requires improvement of various preventive measures, which are undoubtedly of a priority nature, but legal liability, which is an important tool for maintaining the rule of law in this area, cannot be neglected. Expanding the scope of liability for drivers who operate vehicles with technical problems and whose use is prohibited by law, as well as imposing sanctions for improper use of seat belts not only on drivers but also on passengers, should, in our opinion, have a positive impact on the state of lawfulness in the field of vehicle safety and, as a result, on the dynamics of road accidents and the number of people injured in them.