Fines to be Imposed for Driving Livestock on Roads

The Government approved the draft laws on making amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses and on making additions and changes to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia during its session today, April 27.

According to the justification, the number of casualties from traffic incidents in Armenia has increased over the past ten years. In 2010, the number was 294, rising to 348 in 2020, 367 in 2021, and 321 in 2022.

The proposed drafts suggest tightening the liability measures stipulated by legislation for violations of the usage rules of public roads. Specifically, Article 140 of the Code of Administrative Offenses establishes a fine for damaging roads, railway lines, and other engineering structures amounting to twenty-five times the minimum wage, while the damage caused can be significantly higher, leading to an increase in traffic accidents.

For this reason, the draft stipulates that the established fine will be tripled to seventy-five times the minimum wage. Additionally, if the actions result in minor injuries to the individual, the fine will be increased to ninety times the minimum wage.

It is proposed to review the fines under Article 1502 of the Code, tripling them as well. For the use of roadside channels of public state roads for irrigation purposes, leaving objects on the roadway and shoulders, exiting or entering the road in unauthorized sections, and damaging or polluting engineering structures (such as road surfaces, shoulders, sidewalks, pedestrian and bike paths, bridges, parking areas, road signs, lighting devices, fences, and green plantings), fines will be set at one hundred twenty times the minimum wage for interstate roads and sixty times for republican and regional roads.

For driving livestock on the roadway and the separator zone of public state roads and for grazing livestock in the protective zone of the road without permanent supervision, a fine is proposed to be set at fifteen times the minimum wage. Instances of placing informal banners, signs, notices, or other objects on the acquirement strip of public state roads that do not contain elements of road signs or contain advertising elements will, after a warning, incur a fine of one hundred times the minimum wage if repeated within six months on interstate roads, and the minimum wage's fifty times for republican and regional roads.