90 years of guarding road safety
Among all the divisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, the State Traffic Inspectorate is probably the most visible and noticeable. Hardly anyone in our country does not know the abbreviation of the traffic police — this is the historical name of the service that everyone hears. All Russians, without exception, even those who have never been behind the wheel of a car or motorcycle, are in constant contact with traffic police in one way or another: after all, every resident of the country, even without being a driver, acts as a passenger or pedestrian. And for the past 90 years, it has been up to the State Traffic Inspectorate to determine how safe, convenient and comfortable road traffic will be for all its participants. About the history of the formation of this police unit in the material of Izvestia.
How it all started...
The official date of the appearance of a special unit in the Soviet militia that controls automobile traffic in the USSR is considered to be July 3, 1936. It was on this day that the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, by Resolution No. 1182, approved the "Regulations on the State Automobile Inspection of the Main Directorate of the Workers' and Peasants' Militia of the USSR." According to this document, the tasks of the traffic police were "the fight against accidents and predatory use of vehicles; the development of technical standards and meters for the operation of vehicles; monitoring the training and education of drivers; quantitative and qualitative accounting of the fleet."
By the way, the same resolution of the Council of People's Commissars abolished the regulation of 1935 on the State Automobile Inspectorate — Tsudortrans (Central Administration of Highways and Dirt Roads of Motor Transport). Thus, traffic control was transferred from the "civilian" department to the "law enforcement" department.
The first traffic police departments (there were only seven of them across the country) had only 57 employees. However, they had the broadest powers. Thus, traffic inspectors had the right to unhindered access to all objects of the national economy, could demand from the heads of car companies the information they needed and "suspend the operation of vehicles whose technical condition threatens traffic safety."
The traffic police officers could independently fine the perpetrators of violations of the "established rules on motor transport" in the amount of up to 100 rubles. For a more serious penalty (a fine of up to 300 rubles), it was necessary to approve the sanction issued by the traffic police by the head of the republican, regional or regional directorate of the workers' and peasants' militia.
The active work of state traffic inspectors to restore order on the country's roads has borne fruit: the number of accidents and the number of people injured in them have begun to decrease.
Roads of war...
The Great Patriotic War became the hardest test for the whole country. The young Traffic Police Service, which was not even five years old in June 1941, was no exception. A quarter of all police officers were mobilized, and many volunteered for the front. Their place, including in senior positions of the traffic police, was taken by women.
Of course, martial law has left a serious imprint on the work of the service. However, despite the most important and paramount tasks for the defense of the country, no one removed road safety issues from the State Traffic Inspectorate, both in the frontline zone and in the deep rear. On the contrary, there are only more of them. It was the traffic police officers who mobilized vehicles for the needs of the front, kept records of fuel and lubricants, organized and supervised the training of military drivers. In conditions of fuel shortage, they supervised the introduction of gas generator sets into cars, allowing the car to use firewood, peat or fuel briquettes instead of gasoline — in modern parlance, they agreed on "making changes to the vehicle design."
A vivid example of the courage and valor of traffic police officers is the legendary Road of Life. In many ways, their supreme professionalism, and often self-sacrifice, did not allow them to break the thin thread that connected besieged Leningrad with the Mainland.
At the same time, despite all the hardships and hardships of wartime, the traffic police did not stop working on the development and streamlining of traffic management. For example, on September 1, 1944, new traffic rules were introduced by the decision of the Moscow City Executive Committee. And on March 30, 1945, events "to improve the appearance of cars" begin in the capital.
The long-awaited Victory in May 1945 brought not only great joy and relief. With it came the pain of loss: many traffic police officers died at the front. A significant part of the country, including roads, bridges, and crossings, lay in ruins. Therefore, in the post-war years, all the efforts of the State Traffic Inspectorate were devoted to restoring the destroyed national economy and infrastructure, without which it was simply impossible to ensure road safety.
Despite the obvious difficulties, the service managed to recover as soon as possible and begin fulfilling its main task — ensuring road safety. It was in the post-war years that the traffic police laid the foundations, which later became the foundation for ensuring law and order on the streets and highways.
So, in close cooperation with the ORUD service (this unit of the Soviet militia was directly involved in traffic regulation in the country until 1961) The traffic police is updating the procedure for recording accidents and the rules for recording the USSR automobile and motorcycle fleet, developing and adopting the "Manual on supervision of the technical condition and use of vehicles of the USSR National Economy" and the "Regulations on the qualification commissions of the State Traffic Inspectorate of the UMGB-MGB police Departments". The State Traffic Inspectorate also established a commission for public control over the technical condition of cars, senior engineers and traffic safety engineers were appointed at motor depots and large car farms with the direct participation of the service, and many other organizational measures aimed at improving road safety were carried out.
An extremely important milestone in the history of the traffic police was the formation of the Traffic Safety Department in 1954 as part of the Scientific Research Institute of Criminology of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. This has become the basis of a scientific approach to the issue of traffic management and improving road safety. An equally important event was the 1956 resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR No. 382 "On measures to combat accidents in motor transport and urban electric transport." This document gave the State Traffic Inspectorate the right to deprive drivers of their rights for driving under the influence, as well as prohibit driving without a driver's license.
From belts to UIDS
The rapid development of industry and motor transport in the 60-70s of the last century required appropriate measures to ensure law and order on the roads. At that time, administrative responsibility for traffic violations was significantly strengthened, as well as the traffic regulations themselves and the requirements of GOST regarding road safety were significantly updated.
In particular, after the USSR joined the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic and Road Signs and Signals of 1968, new requirements for road signs and the technical condition of vehicles came into force in our country. The usual speed limits in cities were also introduced — 60 km/h in populated areas and 90 km/h on suburban highways. The use of seat belts and motorcycle helmets became mandatory, first-aid kits and fire extinguishers had to be in cars.
In addition, at the same time, uniform samples of driver's license forms were established in the country, the rules for vehicle registration and inspection were updated, a new accident accounting system and the procedure for assigning qualifications to drivers of vehicles were introduced.
A landmark event of those years was the adoption in March 1973 of a joint resolution of the secretariat of the Central Committee of the Komsomol, the collegiums of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Education "On the creation of detachments of young traffic inspectors.— This movement, which now counts more than half a million children and teenagers around the world, has become a powerful support and assistance to the State Traffic Inspectorate in improving road safety.
The era of the 80s-90s and modernity
The middle of the 80s of the last century is characterized by the strengthening of such an important component of the activities of the State Traffic Inspectorate as the promotion of road safety. During these years, the feature films "Traffic police Inspector", "Double overtaking" and other films showing the difficult and dangerous work of traffic police officers were released. In many ways, thanks to them, the attitude of society, motorists and pedestrians towards both road safety and the traffic police is seriously changing. In the eyes of drivers, he ceases to be just an opponent who only issues fines left and right. The traffic police inspector becomes an assistant for them, a person to whom they can turn for help in a difficult situation.
The dashing 1990s — the extremely difficult social and economic situation in the country could not but affect the State Traffic Inspectorate. Criminal wars are starting on the roads, mass deaths of traffic police officers are taking place while on duty, there is a serious outflow of personnel, a noticeable deterioration in the logistical support of traffic police, and a reduction in accident prevention measures. The result was a serious complication of the road safety situation, a sharp increase in accidents, and an increase in the number of crimes against road users. However, in these difficult conditions, thanks to the leadership of the State Traffic Inspectorate and ordinary employees who care about their work, they managed to keep the service.
The difficulties were overcome by the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s. During these years, the renaissance of the traffic police began: new young personnel appeared, units were equipped with advanced technical means of traffic control, modern cars appeared in the arsenal of patrol officers. Since August 1998, the traffic police has officially received a new name — the State Road Safety Inspectorate (Traffic Police). The Service has become a single body that performs all control, supervisory and licensing functions in ensuring road safety.
An extremely important decision was the introduction of amendments to the legislation, which made it possible from July 1, 2008 to hold vehicle owners accountable using data from photo and video recording systems for traffic violations. Currently, they are used to identify more than 90% of all offenses on the roads.
The first World Ministerial Conference on Road Safety "Time to Act", held in Moscow in November 2009, was a landmark event. As a result, participants from 150 countries developed recommendations, on the basis of which the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in March 2010 proclaiming 2011-2020 the Decade of Action for Road Safety.
In 2018, on behalf of the President of Russia, the Strategy for Road Safety in the Russian Federation for 2018-2024 was adopted. Within the framework of this program document, the national project "Safe, high-quality roads" was fully implemented, aimed at reducing the number of accidents and the severity of their consequences.
In November 2025, the President of Russia signed Decree No. 841 "On Approval of the Strategy for Improving Road Safety in the Russian Federation for the period up to 2030 and for the future up to 2036." The strategy was developed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and provides for a one-and—a-half-fold reduction in road deaths by 2030 and two-fold by 2036 compared to the level of 2023. According to the head of the State Traffic Inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Police Lieutenant General Mikhail Chernikov, the main component and feature of this document is its integrated approach, in which all issues of improving road safety are given equal attention.
The material was created as part of the implementation of the federal project "Road Safety" of the national project "Infrastructure for Life".
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
