The Senate has definitively approved this Wednesday the law that increases the protection of the victims of traffic accidents and that has been promoted by the world of cycling
In the presence of Ruby Cycling Club that last August 21 suffered the loss of two companions who were run over by a vehicle that fled, the plenary session of the Senate has definitively approved this Wednesday the law that has promoted the world of cycling to end the impunity on the roads and improve the victim protection. The Upper House has given the green light to a penal code reform so that the driving recklessness that cause serious injury or death to third parties are considered always crime and investigated criminally.
The reform seeks to correct the increase in file orders and the reduction, therefore, of the criminal response that caused the reform of the Penal Code that in 2015 removed the faults and, consequently, it facilitated that a slight recklessness at the wheel but that caused a traffic accident could be archived. “It left the victims unprotected”, without the possibility of the culprit being judged, without access to the forensic report and the prosecutor’s intervention. Victims could resort to civil waybut paying the lawyer and medical professionals on their own, as explained Txema Oleaga, socialist spokesman for Justice in the Senate. “What was done in 2015 was unspeakable,” insists the parliamentarian.
The PSOE presented the necessary bill to put an end to this situation at the request of the world of cycling, especially the Association of Professional Cyclists (ACP). His secretary general, Alfonso Trivinoconfirms that when the PP Government decriminalized faults, recklessness at the wheel such as skipping a traffic light or exceeding the speed limitdespite causing deaths or serious injuries, “they did not carry criminal responsibility and the victims were left alone in their litigation with the insurers“.
The first reform
An attempt was made to correct this situation with the tightening of the Penal Code that promoted the campaign #ForunaleyJustaundertaken by Anna González, whose husband was run over in 2015 by a truck driver who drain and did not initially have to face any criminal proceedings. The campaign had the support of the entire two-wheel sector, with Alberto Contador and Perico Delgado at the head. That reform, which is not only applicable to outrage but to any traffic accident, created in 2019 a new crime to punish with sentences of 2 to 4 years in prison leaving the place of the accident if this is the result of negligence.
But that reform left a loophole The judges were allowed to “appreciate the seriousness of the recklessness,” which has caused, according to Triviño’s complaint, that except in cases in which the driver has consumed alcohol or drugs, the rest are considered minor recklessness and are archived. “This implies not respecting the spirit of the reform” promoted by the #PorunaleyJusta campaign. Triviño maintains that in the negotiation “there was pastry with the judges” and therefore they were allowed to be the ones to appreciate the seriousness of the imprudence.
the attested
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This possibility is now eliminated with the modification of the Criminal Code on driving motor vehicles that has been definitively approved this wednesday for referral to State official newsletterso that all recklessness that causes injury or death is considered a crime and is investigated criminally, unless the judge reasons that it was not serious or that recklessness did not cause the accident and, therefore, file the case .
In addition, the reform requires that a crowded, so that the courts “always have the same” to assess how the accident was. And fixes a small glitch to avoid acquittal in case of drain that appreciated a judge in Valencia.