Voronezhenergo’s specialists warn motorists about liability for damage to power grid facilities

Since the beginning of 2019, specialists of the branch “Rosseti Centre Voronezhenergo” have recorded more than 20 cases of damage to poles of power lines of various voltage classes as a result of motor vehicle collisions. The total amount of damage caused to the company exceeded 160 thousand rubles.

The main cause of such accidents is the inattention of drivers and their violation of traffic rules. In all cases, Voronezhenergo’s specialists submitted applications to the internal affairs bodies, and material claims were made against the guilty parties. Violators are brought to responsibility for damaged power equipment under Article 9.7 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation - damage to power grids with a fine ranging from 1 to 1.5 thousand rubles from individuals, or from 20 to 30 thousand rubles, if the damage was caused by a legal entity. In addition, the violator is obliged to reimburse the costs of the actual restoration of damaged power facilities.

It should be remembered that the collision of a car with a pole, even in the absence of damage to other vehicles and without injuries, qualifies as a traffic accident. There are frequent situations when drivers who damage poles are hiding from the scene of the accident - then the perpetrators, in addition to compensating for the damage caused, also face administrative responsibility - according to Article 12.27 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, leaving by the driver the place of a road accident, of which he was a participant, results in deprivation of the right to drive vehicles for a period of one to one and a half years or administrative arrest for up to fifteen days.

In case of a collision with a power line pole, motorists should immediately contact the traffic police, the police and document an accident. There is the option of compensation for damage to the grid company in the pretrial order: damage to power line poles can be covered by the insurance amount for compulsory motor third party liability insurance (MTPL).

In the event of a collision with a power line pole, it is important to remember that the power lines are live, therefore, in order to avoid an accident, it is necessary to strictly observe the following electrical safety rules:

• In case of contact of the vehicle body on a pneumatic drive or mechanism with overhead line wires, if possible, do not leave the driver’s cabin of the vehicle.
• Try to disconnect the vehicle connection from the overhead line and move to a safe distance.
• If it is impossible to break the connection and there is an urgent need to leave the driver’s cabin (fire or other threat), it is necessary to categorically exclude the possibility of simultaneously touching the vehicle body and the ground.

Rules for the evacuation of live vehicles:

• When leaving a motor vehicle, it is necessary to stand simultaneously on both legs tightly closed. When evacuating, one should not allow a person to touch the body of a motor vehicle and the ground at the same time.
• Move to a safe distance - remember that the radius of the danger zone around a fallen wire, in which a person may be struck with a “step voltage”, is at least 8 m.
• It is necessary to move away from the danger zone in “goose step”: to bring the legs together, without taking them away from each other and from the ground, to move in small-small sliding steps. Thus, when walking, both legs will be almost at the same point with one electric potential - the voltage between them will be negligible.  
• Try not to lose balance, do not increase the width of the step, do not touch the ground with your hands, do not lean on foreign objects and other people.

Once at a safe distance, you must immediately report a broken wire using the single telephone number to the rescue service 112, as well as to power engineers via the round-the-clock toll-free telephone line of Rosseti Centre at 8-800-50-50-115.