How to legally install or remove a road sign in a yard or on the street? Vladimir Afonsky tells

Who is responsible for installing road signs?

Formally, the local road service is responsible for the condition of the road and all its facilities. However, in practice this can be done by several organs at once:

Federal Office for Traffic Management (Ministry of Transport, Rosavtodor),
department of a subject (region or city of Russia) for organizing the installation of road signs, traffic lights, markings (usually the local traffic department),
The traffic police monitors the legality of their installation.

The good news is that you can check the road sign through all the specified departments, and you can submit an appeal online.

Rules according to GOST

principles for installing road signs are used throughout the country.

. We list the main ones:

They must be equally visible to both motorists and pedestrians;
No objects (advertising banners, architectural excesses, buildings, etc.) should cover the shield;
In our country, where the right-hand traffic rule applies, road signs should be placed only on the right side;
Height requirements are more vague: from 1.5 to 6 meters;
If the work is carried out in compliance with all standards, then in good weather a person with healthy eyesight will be able to recognize the warning symbol 100 meters away;
If necessary, you can place one shield above the other on one rod; a distance of 5 cm to 20 cm should be maintained between them. The order of placement should correspond to priority.

In addition to complying with general legal requirements, it is necessary to take into account the following nuances:

The direction of incidence of light reflected from the surface of the shield;
Visual visibility in the vicinity of this point;
Average speed and flow density.

Can I put my own sign?

Neither an individual nor a legal entity has the right to simply dig up his own road sign. However, a person can initiate the installation of an element of the road network by sending the same request as by analogy with checking the legality of the installation of a sign.

What about in yards and on private property?

It's also impossible. In general, a direct ban on putting up signs without authorization in 2021 is prohibited by traffic regulations. In particular, paragraph 1.5 indicates that the Rules prohibit the independent installation of technical means of traffic management.

Of course, if you put a sign in your private yard, there will be no penalty for it. But if we are talking about an apartment building, then you cannot arbitrarily install any signs, barriers, traffic lights, or other organizational means.

What happens if you install or remove a road sign without permission?

Partner news / Traffic violations / For the driver

The places where road signs should be placed and where they should not be are regulated by law. To be more precise, the district administration in collaboration with the traffic police and the road service. And the signs are installed or removed by the road services responsible for this section of the road. It is prohibited to put up and remove signs yourself - this is indicated to us by paragraph 1.5 of the traffic rules:

1.5. Road users must act in such a way as not to create a traffic hazard or cause harm. It is prohibited to damage or pollute road surfaces, remove, block, damage, unauthorized installation of road signs, traffic lights and other technical means of traffic management, leave objects on the road that interfere with traffic...

But what will it be like to install or dismantle a road sign? Both acts are punishable by a fine. Moreover, the size of the fine differs for different persons.

Article 12.33 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. Damage to roads, railroad crossings or other road structures. Damage to roads, railway crossings or other road structures or technical means of organizing road traffic, which creates a threat to road safety, as well as deliberate interference with road traffic, including by polluting the road surface, entails the imposition of an administrative fine on citizens in the amount of five thousand to ten thousand rubles; for officials - twenty-five thousand rubles; for legal entities - three hundred thousand rubles.

Let's look at this article! By installing a road sign without authorization, you almost always create an obstacle to the organization of traffic. The most frequently installed signs in various situations are the following:

Unauthorized installation of sign 3.1 (“brick”) in the yard of a residential building or business.
Unauthorized installation of sign 3.2 “No movement” under the same conditions.
Unauthorized speed limit with a corresponding prohibition sign.
Illegal installation of a pedestrian crossing with appropriate signs or markings.
Illegal prohibition of stopping vehicles in a certain place.
Unauthorized installation of sign 3.1 (
Unauthorized installation of a service sign (hotel, camping, car wash, etc.).

As we see, in such situations (perhaps, except for the last one), an obstacle is created in the organization of traffic. And in this case, the installer must be punished, so the fines are quite fair.

As for the dismantling of signs, the vigilante may face a more severe punishment in 2021 if he not only removed the road sign, but also destroyed it. In this case, he may face criminal punishment under Article 167 of the Criminal Code:

Article 167 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Intentional destruction or damage to property. 1. Deliberate destruction or damage to someone else’s property, if these acts entailed causing significant damage, is punishable by a fine in the amount of up to forty thousand rubles or in the amount of the wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to three months, or by compulsory labor for a period of up to three hundred and sixty hours, or correctional labor for a term of up to one year, or forced labor for a term of up to two years, or arrest for a term of up to three months, or imprisonment for a term of up to two years.

2. The same acts committed out of hooligan motives, by arson, explosion or other generally dangerous method, or which through negligence resulted in the death of a person or other grave consequences, are punishable by forced labor for up to five years or imprisonment for the same term.

Significant damage is determined by the same criminal code (Article 158 of the Criminal Code) in an amount of at least 2 thousand rubles.

Meanwhile, if you believe that a road sign or marking is installed or applied illegally in this particular place and needs to be removed; or if some place, on the contrary, requires the installation of a sign, then you can write a request to the traffic police online reception via the Internet. They will then forward the appeal to the district administration for a further decision on the need to install or demolish the sign.

Who is in control?

We indicated above that responsibility for road maintenance rests with the road service. However, the State Traffic Inspectorate also has the right to control the actions of the latter. In particular, the traffic police are given the rights to:

exercise supervision over the condition of road signs (clause 59 of the Administrative Regulations introduced by Order No. 664),
issue orders to eliminate traffic violations to municipal and other authorities regarding the dismantling or, conversely, installation of signs (clause 21, paragraph 1, article 19 of the Law on Police)

How and where to submit an application online?

So, we have 3 services where you can apply:

traffic police,
federal traffic safety controller,
municipal security authority.

Please note that the last two are general and more specific departments of the same organization. But they consider, accordingly, signs at different levels:

The federal body has the authority to dismantle and install road signs on federal highways (those whose names contain the letter “M” at the beginning - for example, on the M7 highway) - as indicated in Article 5 of Federal Law No. 443 On the organization of road traffic,
regional road workers check the legality of signs on intercity highways that are not federal (Article 6 of the same law),
but the maintenance of elements of local (city and other populated areas) roads is carried out by municipal bodies - administration and the like (Article 7).

Thus, you can submit your appeal on the following resources:

on the official website of Rosavtodor regarding federal roads (sample application on their website),
on the official resource of the regional department regarding regional routes - just enter in the search “[your city] government body of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation in the field of traffic management” - for example, for Tatarstan this will be the website of the Ministry of Transport, for the Krasnodar Territory - a similar Ministry,
or on the website of the local municipal authority - you can also find it by searching; for example, in Moscow it is the data center, in St. Petersburg it is the DODD.

Accordingly, you can submit an appeal through the online reception of these services. Only for Moscow this will no longer be the official website of the data center, but a single transport portal of the capital.

But in St. Petersburg, the DODD website does not provide online appeals. But you can write an email using the application template.

In addition, do not forget that we can still contact the traffic police with the same statement (but we will not be able to copy the text from the letter to the road service here - the site has a ban on contextual commands).

GOST standards for signs

Meanwhile, certain road structures and objects may not always arouse your suspicions. Thus, the regulation of requirements for road signs is very strict, including their sizes, colors, area ratio, objects drawn on them, materials of manufacture and other characteristics - all this is regulated by GOST R52290-2004.

Therefore, even if you have the slightest doubt not only about the legality of installing a sign, but also about its compliance with GOST, you can write to the appropriate authority to check its installation on a given section of the road and compliance with technical requirements.

Something else useful for you:

Application "Euro Accident Report" - how to officially register an accident over the phone?
Are GOSTs mandatory in road traffic or not?
Is it necessary to comply with reduced traffic signs?

General provisions

Installation of road signs
All road signs must be placed in places strictly defined by law.

They should not be allowed to confuse an inexperienced driver.

Therefore, the road sign should be installed so that the driver can clearly see it.

The general rules clearly state that no billboards or banners should block them.

At the same time, visibility must meet the standards. The optimal location is one hundred meters before the sign. There is also a clause about location on the right side of the roadway. This is due to the fact that in this way it is more convenient for the driver to pay attention to them. If it is necessary to duplicate the sign, this can be done on the left side of the road.

Another important indicator when installing signs is their height. It should be located at a level of one and a half to three meters. When it is mounted above the road surface, the height should be from five to six meters. It is from this height that the sign is best visible.

According to the general rules of location, it is recommended that all signs be installed at the same level, this helps perception. The driver always knows where this or that sign may be. This saves him time and helps him quickly decide how to drive a section of the road.

Sometimes several signs are installed on one pole. In this case, the condition must be met that they are located at a distance of fifty to two hundred millimeters. According to the GOST rules for installing traffic signs, only three signs can be placed in one cross-section. But duplicated pointers are not taken into account.

Signs on roads should be installed:

on a road outside a populated area
in the mountains along roads, behind or above them
on the roadsides
on the dividing strip, in order to duplicate
on the right side of the road or above it

Additional supports can be erected on cliffs and ledges. It is worth considering that the edge of the sign should be located at a distance of one meter from the edge of the road.

Road signs are placed on special L-shaped posts. In addition, they can be located on other supports along the road and above it.

It is strictly forbidden to install signs where they are difficult to see. But when installing them, people do not always think that they can be covered with the foliage of a nearby tree. It is in these places that most accidents and incidents occur. Therefore, according to the rules for installing traffic signs in the city, it is better to do this away from bushes and trees. However, in life, this is not always observed. But it is almost impossible to hold road services accountable.

Dangerous section of the road

Any road sign must indicate the situation on the road in advance.

The person driving must understand in advance what awaits him as he moves forward.

This could be a dangerous section of the road or a bend.

The absence of a pointer in the right place can lead to irreparable consequences.

In addition to the correct location of signs, the rules regulate the composition from which they are made.

It must protect against damage and also have reflective properties. This promotes good visibility in the dark.

The installation of each sign must have its own justification. You can't just put it anywhere. The sign should solve a problem or warn a person about what will happen on a particular section of the road.

Is there an obligation to comply with such signs?

If a road sign in a given place is installed illegally and without permission, then there should be no punishment for non-compliance with it, since in essence the event of violation itself is absent. For example, if someone independently placed a “Brick” in front of the entrance to a residential yard without permission, then in this case a fine for driving under it is illegal, because from the point of view of the Rules this object is not familiar.

On the other hand, if there is a violation of GOST, then when appealing the decision, for example, you will also need to prove that it was this violation of the installation of the sign that led to your violation. For example, the posted speed limit was not visible because the sign was overgrown with branches of a nearby tree. Then you will have to show dashcam video or provide other evidence that you could not see the maximum speed on the road sign.

Responsibility for violation

According to the traffic rules, it is prohibited to perform the following unauthorized manipulations with technical means of traffic management (road signs):

Take away;
Block access;
Cause damage;
Install your own without a resolution from the authorities.

In case of illegal installation, the provisions of the Code of Administrative Offenses are applied to the violator.

The severity of the punishment depends on the category of citizens:

Individuals: 5-10 thousand rubles;
Officials: up to 25 thousand rubles;
Companies: up to 300 thousand rubles.

If the offender destroys or damages a road sign, the level of liability will be disproportionately higher.

The Criminal Code interprets possible punishment as follows:

Fine up to 40 thousand rubles;
Correctional or forced labor;
Imprisonment for up to 2 years.

If unauthorized dismantling causes the death of a person in an accident, then the hooligan will have to say goodbye to freedom for up to 5 years. Imprisonment for the same period is possible for various antisocial acts: explosion, arson, etc.