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- Collect and not give up: Russians have paid a record 23 billion fines for traffic violations
Collect and not give up: Russians have paid a record 23 billion fines for traffic violations
Russians spent a record amount on fines for traffic violations in January – March of this year. According to the service Bip.ru The volume of such penalties increased by a quarter and reached 23 billion rubles. At the same time, the number of fines decreased by almost 12%. The largest banks have confirmed the trend. The increase in fees is associated with tougher penalties starting in 2025. By the end of the year, revenues to the treasury under this article may reach 150-160 billion, experts estimated. This is a significant amount for regional budgets — they direct part of these funds to finance road infrastructure and cameras. Whether the increase in fines will affect inflation and whether Russians will violate traffic regulations less is in the Izvestia article.
Traffic fines in 2025
Russians' spending on fines for traffic violations has increased dramatically this year. In January – March, the amount of foreclosures increased by a quarter compared to the same period of the previous year and reached a record 23.2 billion rubles, the service for motorists told Izvestia. Bip.ru . The data of more than 25 million users was analyzed there.
The amount of fines really turned out to be record-breaking, agreed Alexey Tarapovsky, founder of the Anderida Financial Group. And the Russians felt it.
At the same time, the total number of penalties decreased by 12% in 2025. According to the chief analyst Bip.ru Ksenia Panfilova, this happened due to comprehensive measures to combat traffic violations. Including tougher penalties. However, the increase in fines has not yet affected the level of accidents on the roads.
Since the beginning of 2025, the authorities have significantly increased the amount of fines for traffic violations. For example, speeding by 20-40 km per hour will now cost drivers 750 rubles instead of 500. For an unbuckled seat belt, you will have to pay 1.5 thousand instead of 1 thousand, and the penalty for running a red light has increased similarly. Driving "into the oncoming lane" is now punishable by a fine of 7.5 thousand instead of 5 thousand, and driving in the public transport lane is 2.25 thousand instead of 1.5 thousand. The fine for drunk driving increased from 30,000 to 45,000.
In addition, discounts for quick foreclosure payments have been reduced since this year. Instead of 50%, drivers can now save only 25%. However, the time limit for paying the fine (at a low rate) has been increased from 20 to 30 days.
In general, the majority of violators in the first quarter of both 2024 and 2025 paid fines in the first 10 days. But in 2025, there were 10% more such users, the company said. Bip.ru . That is, people are in a hurry not to transfer the full amount, which is already hitting their pockets.
The largest banks have confirmed an increase in Russians' spending on penalties. In the first quarter, the volume of such operations increased by 60% compared to the same period in 2024, the VTB press service reported. In part, the amount increased due to an increase in the number of payers among the bank's customers. However, another reason is recent changes in legislation. Since January 1, 2025, fines for certain violations have increased by more than 1.5 times.
The trend was also confirmed by Dom.rf Bank. Since the beginning of the year, the average bill for fines has almost doubled, said Nikolay Kozak, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board. At the same time, the number of violations paid by one client decreased by 1.5 times. Tougher penalties were supposed to improve road safety, and the measure proved effective — motorists became more law-abiding, the expert emphasized.
According to the Postbank, the number of transactions for the payment of fines in early 2025 decreased slightly — by 17%. At the same time, the average check increased by 15%, the press service said.
Where does the money from fines for traffic violations go?
This year, Russians actually spent more on paying fines for traffic violations than in previous years. In addition to tougher penalties, this may also be due to increased detection of serious violations that "cost" more, suggested Alexey Ivanov, the owner of the Alliance Trucks commercial vehicle dealership network.
If automatic cameras or traffic police officers began to identify serious offenses with high fines more often, then this increases the average check, agreed Irina Frank, CEO of Frank Auto. There may also be one-time reasons: for example, stricter control of preventive actions.
This year, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation has increased its forecast for collecting funds from traffic violators eight times. The figure may amount to 52.8 billion rubles instead of the initially projected 6.4 billion rubles.
However, the actual fees will be significantly higher than the stipulated amount, experts expect. Last year, revenues to the treasury from fines amounted to 125 billion rubles. In 2025, they will increase by about 20-30%, to 150-160 billion, estimated Alexey Ivanov from Alliance Trucks. According to him, this is a significant amount, especially for regional budgets, where part of these funds is used to finance road infrastructure and cameras. For comparison, last year a similar amount — 100 billion rubles in taxes — was paid, for example, by the self-employed, Izvestia wrote earlier.
However, on the scale of the entire federal budget (which amounts to about 35 trillion rubles), an additional 25 billion is less than 0.1%, said Irina Frank from Frank Auto. Therefore, the amount will not have a noticeable impact on the overall financial system. Nevertheless, this may encourage the authorities to use fines more actively as a tool to replenish the treasury, especially in times of shortage, the expert believes.
An increase in public spending on fines may affect price increases if these costs are significant and affect consumer behavior, says Maxim Kolyadov, head of work with individuals at Insurance Broker AMsec24. For example, if Russians begin to redistribute their budgets, reducing spending on other categories, this may cause additional pressure on inflation, the expert explained.
According to Irina Frank, the increase in fines will not have a direct impact on inflation, as it is a redistribution of money within the economy. However, indirectly, a decrease in the available funds of citizens (due to heavy spending on fines) may slightly weaken consumer demand, which theoretically restrains inflation.
At the same time, tougher penalties can discipline drivers, but only in combination with a high risk of being caught, Irina Frank emphasized. If people are confident that violations will be recorded, for example due to the growing number of cameras, then even moderate fines will work.
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