Over 12 months, automatic speed cameras identified almost 2,900 drivers who exceeded the speed limit more than 50 times. Another 35,000 did so more than ten times. This is not an anomaly: it is a documented norm of behavior on Ukrainian roads that the system has been recording for years — and not stopping.

What happened on June 5

On Chokolivsky Boulevard in Kyiv, driver Pavlo Pleshivtsev in a Mercedes-Benz C300 lost control at high speed and drove into an underground pedestrian crossing. Four people died: 12-year-old Hryhoriy Hlushych, a 47-year-old woman, and two police officers aged 21 and 23. Three others were injured.

A detail that changes the context: before the accident, Pleshivtsev's vehicle had 39 traffic violations on record. He was involved in four accidents, two of them in 2025. According to the investigation, at the time of the accident he was fulfilling a taxi order. The Shevchenko Court imposed a preventive measure — 60 days in custody without bail. He faces up to 10 years in prison.

"The driver of the Mercedes at high speed drove into an underground crossing where people were"

Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office

What the government proposes — and what is missing from the proposals

Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko held a meeting with Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko and announced four directions for change: stricter sanctions for repeat offenders, graduated fines depending on the degree of speed violation, improvement of the automatic enforcement system, and legislative regulation of electric scooters.

The number of cameras is planned to increase from the current 377 to over 410. Svyrydenko stated: "Where there is enforcement, drivers more often follow the rules."

However, specific fine thresholds and the mechanism for license suspension based on accumulated violations are absent from the announcement. According to Svyrydenko, final decisions will be shaped taking into account public proposals — a formulation that typically precedes lengthy coordination.

Separately, there is discussion of the idea of considering not only the number of violations but also their degree of danger — that is, a potential transition from a purely monetary to a points or licensing approach, as in most EU countries.

Systemic problem in the numbers

Pleshivtsev's story is not about one driver. It is about the fact that 39 recorded violations did not trigger any preventive action: neither license suspension, nor increased penalties, nor any other administrative barrier. Cameras were collecting data — but the data was not being converted into consequences for a specific person.

It is precisely this gap — the absence of an automatic link between accumulated violations and a driver's legal status — that the reform should close first and foremost. So far, there is no mention of it in the announcements.

If the government does not prescribe an automatic license suspension threshold based on the number of violations — rather than only increasing fines — the next Pleshivtsev will again pass through the system unnoticed.