All motorists know that the main document that gives the right to drive a vehicle is a driver’s license. Therefore, it is so important to monitor the status of this certificate. An expired document, an old sample, damaged, incorrectly prepared - all of them are invalid and can cause serious legal consequences for the owner. Therefore, you need to know how to change a driver’s license and where to do it.
Information for the motorist
Surely every driver is faced with the need to replace the old driver’s license with a new one. The reasons can be very diverse: change of surname, expiration of the document (at the moment it is 10 years), unsuitability of rights or change of the established form by the current legislation. Replacing rights is an infrequent procedure, so the driver may have questions. How to do this, what documents need to be collected, which competent organization is involved in this, how much will such “luxury” cost? But do not be scared. If you carefully prepare all the papers, you should not have any problems when exchanging and obtaining a driver’s license. A sample driver's license of a new format can be seen in the photo in our article.
We will try to consider in detail all the actions that need to be performed in order to become the owner of a new certificate for the right to drive a vehicle.
Where to go
If you have a need to change your driver’s license, contact the State traffic inspectorate in the territory of the subject of the Russian Federation where you are registered or actually reside. It is this body that has the right to issue a new sample certificate in exchange for the old one. The easiest way - contact the place of permanent residence in any traffic police department. They are required to exchange a driver’s license for a new format document. The second option - if you live in one place (are registered), but currently have a temporary registration in another city, you have the right to exchange a certificate in any of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. How to change a driver’s license if you are not officially registered anywhere? In this case, you have the opportunity to replace the rights in any registration department of the traffic police in Russia.
However, practice shows that it is quite difficult to carry out such an action - inspectors find a lot of reasons to refuse you. Conclusion: changing rights without registration is very difficult.
Validity period
The term of a driver’s license (its validity) in our country is 10 years. The expiration date of the rights is indicated in the corresponding box opposite the assigned driver category. As soon as the deadline expires, the certificate becomes invalid and you do not have the right to drive a vehicle. The document is subject to exchange as soon as possible. However, if you do not drive a car during the period of delay, you will not be able to apply penalties for violating this rule of law. As soon as you need a new document, you can contact the traffic police. And remember: they do not have the right to punish you for the fact that the rights expired a long time ago.
But there are exceptions to the rules - in some cases, rights are granted for a shorter period of validity.
- Citizens who are temporarily arriving in the Russian Federation and do not currently have a foreign driver’s license. Such a document is issued, as a rule, for the period of temporary stay of a person in the country (it must be confirmed by relevant documents). Practice shows that rights can be obtained for up to 10 years.
- International driver's license - this type of document can be issued for 3 years. However, at the same time, its validity in our country cannot exceed the established term of the national driver’s license at its immediate place of registration.
We prepare documents
The issuance of a driver’s license occurs only if there is a full package of documents that must be submitted to the State Inspectorate:
- Statement . It can be compiled in free form, stating the intention to change existing rights to new ones. Or you can use the proposed sample in the traffic police. Be sure to indicate the reason why you are contacting the inspection.
- Passport or other document that confirms your identity. However, as practice shows, the traffic police accepts only a passport and does not take other papers for consideration. Be sure to grab your passport (if any) to correctly write your details on a new document.
- Certificate confirming your territorial affiliation: temporary or permanent registration of the driver. As a rule, such a mark is in the passport, but employees may additionally require this document.
- A certificate that confirms that you studied at a driving school or on an individual program. Note that now passing exams as an external student for obtaining rights is prohibited (was possible until 2013).
- Medical certificate. This document cannot be old, it must necessarily be of a standard form and indicate which category of driving your “fitness for” is confirmed.
- Old driver's license.
- 2 photos (color 3.5 x 4.5 cm). But the driver’s license of a new sample is made automatically and does not require the submission of photos. Get ready for the fact that your photo will be taken directly at the inspection.
- Copy of individual tax number.
- Receipts confirming payment of services for the production of documents.
Exams again?
Do not panic, the current legislation does not provide for repeated exams to confirm your driving skills. A new driver’s license can be obtained only after clarifying all the necessary information on the centralized databases of the State Automobile Inspectorate. The specialist will check:
- How many administrative offenses do you have?
- Have you been deprived of rights in the past.
- Are you on the wanted list, and your car is stolen.
- When and where did you get training.
Based on all these data, a conclusion will be drawn up on the possibility of issuing you a new driver’s license. The official must certify with a personal signature a document confirming that you have passed the audit. If you were refused for any reason, a record will be made of this. Make sure that on such a document there is the surname and name of the person in charge, the date of preparation of the document and a reasoned opinion. And if it turns out that you have old traffic police fines for a driver’s license, you’ll have to pay them in full, and with interest.
Innovation in obtaining a medical certificate
In early May 2014, the Ministry of Health of Russia completed a discussion of the draft resolution, which was supposed to update the usual list of medical indications restricting a person in obtaining a driver’s license. The ministry insists that it is necessary to remove restrictions for the following categories of citizens:
- Drivers with reduced hearing and complete deafness. This recommendation applies to categories "A", "B", "C" (gazelles, motorcycles and cars). However, these restrictions must remain for professional drivers who drive trucks, passenger buses, heavy trucks.
- The driver's license of 2014 will be able to get people who are color blind. Henceforth, a disturbed color perception is excluded from the list of restrictions during a medical examination. However, the ban on driving for people with a diagnosis of "monochromasia" - a complete loss of color perception, has been maintained.
- Citizens with glaucoma, asthma, coronary heart disease, artificial lens and a number of other pathologies can now drive their own cars.
So today it will be much easier to pass a medical examination for people with some limitations. But the Ministry of Health confirms that the requirements for professional drivers will remain the same.
Note that this list is not approved and final, changes and additions are possible. But the requirements for the survey will be increased in relation to people who are not able to drive a car due to mental disorders. Doctors believe that this tightening will help avoid accidents on the road.
The requirements for people with disabilities will remain unchanged - they will be able to undergo a medical examination and get access to driving a car only if their car is equipped with special devices (automatic box or fully manual control).
Untimely replacement of rights - established fines
Remember, you can be fined only for managing cars with expired rights! If during this period you do not drive - no punishment will follow. If you didn’t have any rights when the State Inspectorate stopped you, they can punish you with a fine in the amount of 5 to 15 thousand rubles. This is considered a serious violation.
But fines for the traffic police on a driver's license, which corresponds to the old model and is not replaced by a new one, are not provided. According to the current legislation, the new rights come into force on April 1, 2014. But drivers whose old ones are not past due do not have to redo them at all. Replacement will only occur after the specified period or at the personal initiative of the driver. Therefore, no one has the right to fine you. If they try to punish you, ask them to draw up a protocol indicating the reason and feel free to contact the court.
New rights
In the spring of this year, the traffic police announced the creation of new driver’s licenses. From now on, they fully comply with international safety requirements, which are clearly regulated in the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic of 1968. Experts confirm that the development of a new sample of the document was largely connected precisely with the inconsistency of old documents with this legal act. This fact caused a lot of problems for motorists who were abroad. Now the problems should be much less. Now your surname is indicated in the rights in English, but experts recommend making a literal translation of the document when visiting a certain country.
Despite the hype among car owners who rushed to the traffic police, the document did not undergo any special changes, because there is no big problem in resolving the issue of how to change a driver’s license. The difference applies only to the extended list of subcategories that regulate which vehicles must be driven only if there are rights. Now there are 16 of them!
A sample driver’s license is a laminated card containing special signs on its surface. The reverse side contains information on the categories and duration of rights. But the state duty for a driver’s license remained the same and amounted to 800 rubles.
The reform, which was announced publicly, unfortunately, does not have clear deadlines - it turned out to be only a prospect. And it is completely incomprehensible when it will begin to be applied in practice fully.
New categories
The main difference between new documents and old ones was a detailed grid of subcategories. Unlike the usual option, it covers almost all types of transport:
- “A” 1 - motorcycles with an engine capacity of 125 cubic meters. cm.
- "B" 1 - tricycles and ATVs.
- “C” 1 - a car with an allowable weight of 3.5 to 7.5 tons.
- "D" 1 - a vehicle carrying passengers in an amount of 8 to 16 seats.
- "M" - scooters and mopeds. Such rights can be obtained from the age of 16.
Another innovation will be the opportunity to learn how to drive a car with automatic transmission. The special mark “AT” will indicate that a person can only operate the machine with an automatic transmission, and does not have the right to drive a mechanical “iron horse”.
Traffic police experts clarified that people who have the main category open can drive all the vehicles listed in the relevant subcategories. However, when a person has an “admission” only to a secondary position, he loses the right to drive the main modes of transport indicated in the main line. That is, it’s quite possible to transfer from a car to a moped, but it’s just not possible to “saddle” a jeep after an ATV without passing exams for the corresponding category.
Special marks will also be duplicated on the front of the document. Replacing a driver’s license in 2014 will not require the driver to pass a certification exam only if the open category does not change.
International law
Innovations have changed the look of international driving licenses. This is such a long paper tape, which lists absolutely all the data specified in your rights in different languages of the world. New subcategories and corresponding marks have appeared. The restrictions on driving a car with automatic transmission are indicated. For example, for the common category "B", the inscription - automatic transmission only will now be entered.
Realities of life
Despite the fact that the law has entered into force, and it is necessary to have the rights of a new sample to the newly introduced subcategories, such examination programs in the traffic police do not yet exist. So it turns out that passing on the category of "M" and "AT" will be quite problematic, or rather, is not yet possible. So there is simply no one to get new marks in the rights! And now the high season for mopeds and ATVs has come, and young people or elderly residents have sat on them simply can’t get any rights. How to be? Inspectors say that until the drivers of these subcategories get the right, they will not punish them with fines on the roads. But for people with any open category, riding two-wheeled counterparts is quite possible, without even thinking about how to change a driver’s license.
There are no by-laws that govern such training in specialized institutions. Driving schools not only do not have the necessary car parks and two-wheeled vehicles, but also an approved training program. As a result, such exams are simply not possible in the traffic police.
According to the Ministry of Justice, completely new training programs will be adopted, that is, it is planned to make it deeper. For example, in category “B” the theoretical course will be not 106 hours, but 138. Special attention will be paid to driving: instead of 50 hours, it is planned 56. In the future, purely professional subjects will be added that will help to get a driver's profession at the end of a driving school. For category “M”, a training course on cargo securing will be held, and for “B” - the basics of working in a taxi service. In addition, it is planned to significantly increase the requirements for the arrangement of driving platforms.
It is difficult to understand whether such new categories will become popular among citizens, and when the reform will be completely completed. In the meantime, you can "ride" with the rights of the old model (if they, of course, are not expired). Well, if you decide, for example, to transfer from an automatic car to "mechanics" - you will have to pass a qualification exam and listen to a theoretical course.
Summary
New reforms, improved education in driving schools, more rights and opportunities - all this, of course, is good in theory. But it is very difficult to predict whether these innovations will become an obstacle for the average citizen, how the situation on the roads as a whole will change. Indeed, in our country, obtaining rights is not a guarantee of excellent driving skills among motorists. But let's hope for the best. And get a new driver’s license, a photo of which you can see in our article. In addition, as the servants of the law declare, the procedure will be maximally simplified and will not take much time. You hand over the full package of documents and literally in a week or two become the owner of new rights.