Laws: Changes in road traffic
MORE MADE-UP SPACE Four amendments to the Road Traffic Act came into force on October 1. Speeders, holders of probationary driver's licenses and drivers of emergency vehicles can hope for more leniency.
Until now, drivers of vehicles registered to legal entities had a certain chance of avoiding administrative fines. It is true that companies were obliged to cooperate in identifying the drivers. However, if a company was unable or unwilling to say who was driving, the proceedings were often dropped in the event of an appeal because the expense of further police investigations did not seem justified.
On October 1, this has changed. If the company does not specify the person driving, the owner will be charged for the administrative fine. This means that not only natural persons pay their fines themselves, but also legal entities.
Speeding offenses and serious violations
Another change concerns the so-called speeding article for "qualified gross violation of traffic rules", which entails drastic penalties not only for speeding offenses but also for serious violations such as reckless overtaking or racing. What was legally objectionable about this so far was that severe penalties such as confiscation of the vehicle and imprisonment must in principle be assessed individually in each area of law according to the circumstances of the case, but this did not happen. The minimum sentence for speeding offenders remains one year in prison and a minimum of two years' deprivation of identification. However, courts are now allowed to take into account a person's reputation or concrete circumstances, such as the fact that there was no concrete danger, and then reduce the prison sentence and the duration of the deportation somewhat.
Extension of the time on probation
In the case of a probationary driver's license, the penalty for minor offenses is reduced. In this case, the driving license is no longer cancelled or its probationary period is extended by one year. However, if the license is temporarily revoked due to the offense, the probationary period will continue to be extended, as in the case of more serious offenses.
The fourth amendment to the current revision of the Road Traffic Act (SVG) affects drivers of emergency vehicles. It is now mandatory that drivers who excessively disregard traffic regulations for emergency driving are sentenced more leniently. For example, a speeding offence will no longer be punished according to how much the limit was exceeded in absolute terms, but according to how much faster the emergency journey was made than would have been appropriate.
Revision of the Road Traffic Act
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