New, stricter measures for road control and accident prevention – What penalties will drivers face in accidents with victims and why do lawyers question the fairness of the law and how dangerous is it that conscientious drivers on the road will also fall under the blows of the law?
Equalizing sentences for intent and for careless actions is contrary to the principles of legal science, believes lawyer Boris Malinov.
Legislation must be uncompromising towards people who intentionally cause an accident or death on the road, said lawyer Iliya Todorov.
„With these rules, drivers will be faced with two choices - either to travel by bus or to be prepared to serve a sentence of at least ten years. Previously, in order to comply with these provisions, it was considered that the driver must have exclusively contributed to the accident or caused it - such as having alcohol in his blood at the time”, said lawyer Elitsa Buenova on the air of "Zdravej, Bulgaria" on "Nova TV". According to the lawyer, in exceptional and mitigating circumstances, the risk could be minimized, but the penal article for such exceptions is rarely used in judicial practice.
According to her, after the changes, penalties ranging from ten to twenty years are provided for causing a traffic accident through negligence, and the penalties also include aggravating circumstances such as alcohol use, speeding, bodily injuries or death caused after the accident.
„They reduced the speed limit from 50 to 20 km/h for populated areas. However, the roads are not cleaned well and most of these signs are not visible. And if you are driving on a road with priority and at the intersection a car coming from the opposite direction does not stop at the sign and hits you, and you were driving a few kilometers below or above the permissible speed, the assessment will be up to the experts”, Buenova added.
“Legislation should be uncompromising towards people who intentionally caused an accident or death on the road – I think all lawyers are of this opinion”, pointed out lawyer Iliya Todorov. He also pointed out that in the event of an established death under hypotheses of intent and negligence, the legal minimum for punishment is ten years.
”If changes are made to the law and the limit of the maximum permitted sentence is raised, this figuratively speaking unties the hands of the institutions and different sentences can be given in different cases. However, if the minimum limit is raised, then all people fall under a common denominator”, the lawyer also said.
According to him, however, this ignores and supplements factual and aggravating circumstances - for example, the intent of the act, the severity of possible injuries to the victims or, in rare cases - the loss of loved ones when causing a traffic accident.
Equalizing sentences for intent and for careless actions is contrary to the principles of legal science, believes lawyer Boris Malinov. He pointed out that the basis of the definition of the intentional causing of an accident on the road is precisely the failure to comply with the speed limit.