Changes have been made to the driver's intoxication check. What you need to know

New rules for conducting medical examinations concerning drunk driving suspects will come into force in Russia on September 1. Now it will take place only after giving written consent to the research. The time intervals for taking tests have also changed. What awaits drivers now and in which cases they are prescribed a check by doctors — in the Izvestia article.

What is a medical examination prescribed for?

- A medical examination is a set of medical examinations and studies, according to the results of which a legal consequence may occur for an audited person. It is carried out in medical institutions or mobile points specially deployed for conducting research. The medical examination may be psychiatric or for the presence of contraindications to the possession of weapons or driving vehicles. More often than not, Russians are faced with an examination for intoxication, which is assigned to drivers who arouse suspicion.

- There is a list of criteria by which a driver may be suspected of drinking alcohol and suspended from driving if there is at least one of them. It can be the smell of alcohol from the mouth, instability of posture, unsteadiness of gait, speech disorders, a sharp change in the color of the skin of the face. Also, a check is usually assigned in the event of an accident to the alleged cause of the accident.

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- The traffic police inspector has the right to first conduct his own alcohol check before sending for a medical examination. You can opt out of this check, but in this case, medical examination will become mandatory. Refusal of it will already entail serious consequences — in fact, this is considered an admission of guilt and leads either to a fine of up to 45 thousand rubles, or to the deprivation of a driver's license for up to two years. Inspectors also have the right to force a medical examination if the initial check did not show a violation, but suspicions about the driver remained.

What is the difference between an on-site check and a medical examination?

- An inspection with the participation of a traffic police officer is carried out on the spot and takes much less time than a medical examination. The driver must exhale into the breathalyzer for a long time, which will show the alcohol vapor content. If it exceeds 0.16 mg per 1 liter of air, then a protocol on drunk driving is issued.

- On-site inspection must be carried out in compliance with certain rules. The inspector must involve at least two witnesses or keep a video recording so that the procedure is legal. The breathalyzer must be in an airtight container before use, have a disposable mouthpiece and be able to print the test results immediately. The driver should make sure that the device shows a zero value before exhaling, and that all documents and printouts do not contain empty cells.

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- If the driver does not agree with the test results, then he has the right to undergo a medical examination. To do this, a traffic police officer takes him to a medical facility, and at that time the car goes to the parking lot if there is no one else to drive. The driver must again blow twice into the breathalyzer, take urine and blood tests, and be examined by a doctor. The results can be determined for several days, during which time the driver is not allowed to drive. It is possible to challenge the doctor's conclusion only in court, having in hand the results of an promptly conducted independent examination.

What's new about passing a medical examination

- On September 1, a new order of the Russian Ministry of Health comes into force, which introduces some changes to the procedure for conducting medical examinations. Now, the suspect must give written consent to undergo the procedure before traveling to a medical facility. Only after that, the traffic police officer will take him to the doctors. Failure to give written consent would be tantamount to an admission of guilt.

- A 30-minute interval for urinalysis is also introduced. If you do not do it during this period, then a blood test is prescribed. In the presence of pathologies that do not allow urinalysis, a blood test is also prescribed. The interval between two breathalyzer tests has also changed — the pause between them increases from 15-20 minutes to 15-25 minutes. If the second check gives a negative result, the conclusion indicates that intoxication has not been established.

- The new order on medical examination for intoxication applies not only to drivers. As before, it also applies to suspects of administrative and criminal violations, drunken employees and military personnel serving in the military. Unemployed people who showed up drunk for re-registration have now been added to these categories.