Staff author: Adilia S.
Non-profit organization “StopHam” was excluded from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities at the request of Russian Ministry of Justice. The federal funding for the organization has also been frozen. The decision came into effect on 21 March 2016, Gazeta.ru reports.
StopHam (translated as Stop a Douchebag or Stop a Cad) is a Russian volunteer organization fighting against rude drivers and traffic rules’ violations.
StopHam volunteers patrol high traffic areas and ask drivers to abide by the rules. In case of drivers ignoring parking and traffic regulations despite the warning, activists glue a giant sticker on their cars’ windscreens. The stickers read, “I spit on everyone, I park (drive) where I want”. Often such actions ended up in conflict situations and confrontations with car owners.
The volunteers film their encounters and upload the videos on YouTube for everyone to see. There was a high-profile case in the news a few weeks ago when a former Russian Olympic champion refused to follow the rules and had a sticker glued on his car window. The former Olympic gymnast then physically attacked the activists, which was recorded on film. The activists didn’t sue the gymnast for the attack.
The press service of the Russian Ministry of Justice states that the Federal State Supervision authority revealed serious violations of the law in the work of the organization.
The Ministry claims they are fully satisfied by the judgment dated 12 October 2015. As no formal appeals were lodged, the non-profit organization had been liquidated.
The StopHam Facebook and VK pages still call volunteers for patrols. A new video has been uploaded on YouTube this week. It doesn’t look like they intend to terminate their activities.
Russian traffic videos are some of the most popular crash films in the world. The traffic police in Russia seems to be powerless to control drivers’ behaviour on roads. This is why StopHam (pronounced as “Stop Kham”) volunteers took matters in their own hands, patrolling areas where drivers park unlawfully without replications.
As on officially registered not-for-profit organization, StopHam received about US $100,000 in government grants. However, now that the leftover funds from 2015 are frozen, the leader of the movement Dmitry Chugunov is unsure what to do, The Daily Beast reported. The organization was registered as a legal entity since 2013. The official reason for termination is non-compliance with paperwork requirements.
Watch some videos revealing driver’s behaviour on Russian roads below or visit StopHam page for more.
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Why our government has liquidated StopHam?? I think guys were doing everything right! A lot of drivers don’t know traffic laws at all! They drive like they want, or park everywhere they want. I think closing this organization was a really bad idea.
I’m familiar with StopHam organization and feel sorry for it being liquidated. For sure, their methods were not always gentle, however in our reality that seemed to be the only effective method to prevent breaking rules on the roads. In fact, they didn’t do anything cruel towards the people. They used to stick a sticker on a front window and just show the face of the person who broke the low. Traffic police is being far more violent sometimes.
I really like StopHam. I drive carefully and I’d like everyone to follow the rules. It’s a pity that the government obstruct them. In fact these guys fight for culture and I think Russia needs this driving culture. Our behavior is our face, it’s very good that they aren’t indifferent to this problem.
I should say that this problem is much spoken about and the methods are really awful sometimes, there was even a program of Andrey Malahov on our Russian TV devoted to this important point of a great amount of problems. And it is widely spread today.
I personally wish that now StopHam can not exist. Volunteer organization worked really necessary thing. The roads are so many offenders and they are not afraid of anybody. I hope there is some new organization.
This is a controversial organization. Sometimes they create problems instead of resolving them. In fact, it’s substitution of police functions. If the road police worked better, no-one would need it.
It seems to me that StopHam liquidation was inevitable . After one of the worst offenders of traffic rules are public officials and their family members ( especially children ) . And if someone like your neglect of the law is constantly displayed in the community. We are always so – rather than to support any action aimed at the support of ordinary people is much easier to stop it , and then suddenly people will like it .