No more "Sh". The “Spikes” sign has been officially abolished in Russia

The traffic police law on the abolition of the Ш sign - is it true?

He really is. The new law was developed back in the summer of 2018 and submitted to the State Duma for consideration in order to change the traffic rules in terms of excluding the Spikes sign from the list of those required for mounting on car windows.

The need for the sign was stated in a specially created annex to the traffic rules, which regulates the rules for allowing cars to drive on public roads. It lists the mandatory identification plates for cars, among which our notorious sign was the third paragraph:

8. The following identification marks must be installed on vehicles:
….
“Spikes” - in the form of an equilateral triangle of white color with the top up with a red border, into which the letter “Ш” is inscribed in black (the side of the triangle is at least 200 mm, the width of the border is 1/10 of the side) - on the back of motor vehicles with studded tires tires;

But the corresponding draft resolution proposed introducing changes to this paragraph regarding the exclusion of just 3 paragraphs:

2. In paragraph 8 of the Basic Provisions for the admission of vehicles to operation and the duties of officials to ensure road safety: paragraph three should be deleted.

View the full text of the official draft resolution.

The truth is that this law, abolishing the Ship sign, was adopted by the Duma as of May 23, 2021 and entered into legal force. As of December 8, 2021, the obligatory sign has been abolished, and there is no obligation to affix it to the back of the car according to the Rules. Read the article about changes to traffic rules on December 8.

Update from November 30, 2021 (outdated): on November 29, news appeared on the Internet that Medvedev abolished the obligatory sign. The corresponding resolution was indeed issued by the Russian government, but it has not been adopted and has not entered into legal force. To enter into force, a change in the traffic rules must be officially published on the legal information portal, which has not yet happened as of May 23, 2021.

Update November 5, 2021 (outdated): The government has promised soon without specifying how soon this will happen. The Duma emphasized that the innovation had previously been postponed due to more extensive changes to the traffic rules, which will be introduced by everyone at once.

No further legal acts on the abolition have been issued so far: no new laws, no official orders, decrees, resolutions and other documents.

The "Spikes" sign has been canceled - is this true?

Yes. As of May 27, 2021, this obligation to install this sticker has been lifted.

Current traffic rules have lost this obligation since December 8, 2018 - the corresponding law was adopted, that is, the sign was canceled, and on the specified date it came into force.

The obligation was stated in paragraph 8 of the Basic Provisions for the admission of vehicles to operation (Appendix of the Traffic Rules):

8. Identification signs must be installed on vehicles: ... “Spikes” - in the form of an equilateral triangle of white color with the apex up with a red border, into which the letter “Ш” is inscribed in black on the back of motor vehicles with studded tires.

Thus, the latest news for May 27, 2021 - the “Spikes” sign has been canceled as of today.

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Is the “Spikes” sign required?

In connection with the entry into force of Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of March 24, 2017 No. 333, starting from April 4, 2021, the absence of the “Spikes” identification mark is included in the list of malfunctions for which the operation of vehicles is prohibited:

7.151. There are no identification marks that must be installed in accordance with paragraph 8 of the Basic Provisions for the admission of vehicles to operation and the duties of officials to ensure road safety, approved by Resolution of the Council of Ministers - Government of the Russian Federation of October 23, 1993 N 1090 “On the Rules traffic."

According to clause 2.3.1 of the Traffic Rules, the driver of the vehicle is obliged to:

Before leaving, check and ensure that the vehicle is in good technical condition on the way in accordance with the Basic Regulations for the admission of vehicles to operation and the responsibilities of officials to ensure road safety.

According to clause 8 of the “Basic provisions for the admission of vehicles to operation,” identification marks must be installed on vehicles:

More on the topic: The Russian government has approved new changes to traffic rules

“Spikes” - in the form of an equilateral triangle of white color with the top up with a red border, in which the letter “Ш” is inscribed in black (the side of the triangle is at least 200 mm, the width of the border is 1/10 of the side) - on the back of motor vehicles with studded tires tires.

mandatory since 2017, regardless of the season.
In addition, without this sticker it is not possible to undergo a technical inspection if the vehicle has the appropriate type of tires. It should be noted that the legislation does not contain requirements for the need to remove the sticker when switching to summer tires. Therefore, in principle, you can drive with it all year round.

Is the Thorn sign needed in 2021?

We conclude that the “Ш” sign, as of May 23, 2021, has been cancelled, it does not need to be glued to the rear window of the car, and there will be no fine for its absence.

This is also evidenced by the official interpretation of the current traffic rules - the above text of the Rules has changed to this day, and the mandatory Thorns sign is excluded from it:

here is the official interpretation of paragraph 8 with the obligatory Thorns sign on the Consultant Plus website,
Here are the same traffic rules on the Garant website.

There is no text of the Rules on the official website of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate, otherwise they would have provided a link to it.

But we have even more “proofs”! The fact is that changes to the Rules (and the need for the Spikes sign is spelled out, as you understand, in the traffic rules) are made by relevant decrees of the government of the Russian Federation. Such changes have been adopted and published on the official portal for the publication of regulatory acts.

Thus, as of May 23, 2021, the Thorns sign has been cancelled.

In what cases was it not needed before?

There were a small number of exceptions when it was not necessary to install the “Ш” sign on the car:

when your car has summer tires - from the most obvious,
when the car is equipped with “Velcro” tires without studs,
when literally all the thorns have fallen out (and not a single one remains - if at least one remains, even the most worn and sunk, as a result, deep into the depths, then the Thorn sign already becomes necessary).

Where should I install it?

Before the changes, official traffic rules clearly stated only that the sign must be pasted or otherwise installed at the rear. Is it possible to attach it where it will not be visible? According to the letter of the law, it is possible. In practice, there is no legislation for 2021, because anyway the traffic police officer would have fined you, and the court would have supported the inspector if you appealed the fine. Alas, it would hardly have been possible to cheat!

By the way, both the first and the very last instance will make absolutely no difference if you try to tilt your arguments towards the absurdity of the Spikes sign in the realities of 2021, when not only spikes determine the length of the braking distance. It was spelled out in the law - which means the sign is required!

Thus, it is better to install the sign on the rear window so that it is visible.

Is the spike sign required or not?

In practice, it was not possible to see the “Ш” sign on every car with winter tires. To put it bluntly, less than half of Russian drivers installed this sign.

In this regard, the question arises: is it necessary to glue the “Spikes” sign at all? Is this required by law?

Until December 8, 2021, the following paragraph 8 of the main provisions for the admission of vehicles to operation was in effect:

8. The following identification marks must be installed on vehicles: ... “ Spikes ” - in the form of an equilateral triangle of white color with the apex up with a red border, in which the letter “Ш” is inscribed in black (the side of the triangle is at least 200 mm, the width of the border is 1 /10 sides) - behind motor vehicles with studded tires;

In addition, consider clause 2.3.1 of the traffic rules:

2.3. The driver of the vehicle is obliged to:
2.3.1. Before leaving, check and ensure that the vehicle is in good technical condition on the way in accordance with the Basic Regulations for the admission of vehicles to operation and the responsibilities of officials to ensure road safety.

Thus, until 2021, the “Spikes” sign had to be installed . This was required by traffic rules.

In addition, from April 4, 2021 to December 8, 2021, the absence of the “Spikes” identification mark was included in the list of faults for which the operation of vehicles is prohibited:

7.151. There are no identification marks that must be installed in accordance with paragraph 8 of the Basic Provisions for the admission of vehicles to operation and the duties of officials to ensure road safety, approved by Resolution of the Council of Ministers - Government of the Russian Federation of October 23, 1993 N 1090 “On the Rules traffic."

What's the fine?

So, today there is no fine, since the Spikes sign has been canceled according to the Traffic Rules.

For violation of any paragraph from the above traffic rules appendix, a fine of 500 rubles is imposed or a warning is issued under part 1 of article 12.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. This provision provides for such a sanction for any violation of the provisions.

The fine for the Spikes sign could be paid at half the cost in the first 20 days after the fine was imposed (Article 32.2 of the Administrative Code). No other measures to ensure additional penalties, in addition to the main fine, for the absence of the “Ш” sign were provided for 2021. And you wouldn’t even be at fault for the accident if you didn’t have a sign installed, and another car drove into you from behind, without keeping a distance.

But the traffic police promised not to fine

Meanwhile, the traffic police commented, albeit unofficially, that there would be no fines in the winter of 2021 for the absence of the Spikes sign even before it was cancelled.

With this statement, road safety law enforcement allegedly refers to the above-mentioned draft law - while it was under consideration, and until it was adopted, the Ministry of Internal Affairs was not going to fine drivers for the absence of this sign.

If you are still subject to a fine, please leave a corresponding comment below.

Is it necessary to put up a sign in winter 2021?

No, no longer necessary. Since the obligation to install a sign has been removed from the traffic regulations in force as of May 27, 2021.

Previously, at the same time, it was necessary to know several subtleties of the sticker, otherwise incorrect installation could be tantamount to the fact that it does not exist at all, and lead to a fine being issued:

The “Ш” sign had to be glued to the back of the car, it was also possible in front, but in any case it also had to be on the back of the vehicle,
there was no clear indication that it should be installed specifically on the rear window - only at the back of the car; this means that you could stick it on the bumper, the rear wall of the trunk, on the spare tire - even if it is inside, and so on,
the minimum dimensions of the sticker were indicated - no less than 20 cm on each side of the triangle and no less than 1/10 - the width of the border: if the sign is smaller in size, then this is equivalent to the fact that it does not exist at all, and entails a fine, you can,
the obligation to install was prescribed only for owners of studded tires - even if there is only one of them and even if you drive in the summer; if you have Velcro or every single spike has fallen out, then the obligation disappears (but remains if there is at least one spike).

Something else useful for you:

Studded tires will be banned in Russia under a new law - is this true or not?
All amendments to the 2021 traffic rules that are destined to become untrue
New amendments to traffic rules in September 2021: what changes?

What is the penalty for absence?

There is no fine for missing the “Ш” sign in the winter of 2021. Previously, before its abolition, it was 500 rubles under Part 1 of Article 12.5 of the Administrative Code. There was no repetition of this violation, just as there were no enforcement measures - evacuation and a ban on the operation of the car.

This fine could be paid with a 50% discount in the first 20 days from the date of the decision.

Sign "Ш" according to GOST

The requirements for the Thorns sign relate only to the color, shape of the triangle and its size:

the triangle must be equilateral,
inside it is the letter “SH”,
it must be installed on the glass with the top up,
the background is white, the letter “Ш” is black, and the border is red,
border thickness - 1/10 of the length of the side of the triangle,
side length – from 20 cm.

Below you can download the Spikes sign that meets these requirements (there is no separate GOST for this sign):

(print out the Thorns sign and cut it into a triangle shape)
source file with layers for editing, if the finished one does not suit you in any way.

ABOUT

8. The following identification marks must be installed on vehicles: ... “Spikes” - in the form of an equilateral triangle of white color with the apex up with a red border, into which the letter “Ш” is inscribed in black (the side of the triangle is at least 200 mm, the width of the border is 1/10 sides) - behind motor vehicles with studded tires;

So, the paragraph obliging the installation of the “Spikes” sign is excluded from the main provisions.

This is due to several reasons:

By itself, the sign “Ш” does not carry any additional meaning . That is, if a car with this sign is driving in front of you, then this will not affect your driving in any way. You will simply know that the driver has studded tires. Approximately the same amount of information is conveyed by the inscription “Valera” on the rear window.
If the sign is stuck on the rear window of the car, it blocks the view .
Many drivers do not remove the "Spikes" sign in the summer . There's really no point in going through the trouble of peeling and sticking when you can just leave a sign. Moreover, the rules do not prohibit installing a sign on cars with studless tires.

More detailed information about the use of the “Spikes” sign is provided in a separate article:

Is the spike sign required or not?

Is the Thorns sign required for 2021?

Yes, required. At the same time, the obligation to glue it is directly prescribed by the traffic rules, which we must know. To be more precise, the appendix to this regulatory act called “Basic provisions for vehicle approval,” paragraph 8 of which instructs you and me to do the following:

8. Vehicles must be equipped with identification marks: …. “Spikes” - in the form of an equilateral triangle of white color with the top up with a red border, into which the letter “Ш” is inscribed in black (the side of the triangle is at least 200 mm, the width of the border is 1/10 of the side) - on the back of motor vehicles with studded tires tires;

We are required to install winter tires in the winter months: December, January and February (regions have the right to change the obligatory period). This is already bequeathed to us by the Technical Regulations. There is also a fine for not having winter tires. Accordingly, if we install studded tires during these months, we are required to stick on the “Spikes” sign.

Is a sign required if Velcro is installed?

As can be seen from the quote above, the obligation to stick a sign is provided only for owners of studded tires. If you install Velcro for the winter, then you have no responsibility for the “Spikes” sticker.

The “L” sign or similar, which would oblige the owners of the Velcro to put up the corresponding sign, has also not yet been invented.

Is the "Sh" sign necessary if the spikes have come out?

It’s a strange situation, but it’s impossible to formally issue a fine if the tires were essentially studded at one point, but the studs have all fallen off, because in this case the car is not classified as “having studded tires.” There is also no separate marking for studded tires, so the driver is not actually required to affix the “Spikes” sign.