Hit-and-run accident, driving licence suspended without exception

For those who flee the scene after causing an accident, there can be no ‘guarantee’ regarding the duration of the driving ban, as the offence is deemed to have been settled through probation or community service. The Constitutional Court (judgement 146 filed yesterday) upholds the articles of the new Highway Code (Article 189(6) and Article 224(3)) which prevent the judge from reducing the duration of the administrative penalty.

It was the Justice of the Peace in Ancona who raised doubts as to the constitutionality of the provision. The referring judge questioned the legitimacy of the provisions insofar as they do not provide, for the offence of fleeing the scene after aroad traffic accident, that the additional administrative penalty of driving licence suspension be reduced by half, in the event of a successful completion of community service or probation. However, no such restriction applies to those who commit the offence – even where it has been time-barred – of driving whilst under the influence of alcohol which did not result in a road traffic accident. The Constitutional Court rules out any unequal treatment.

The referring court – the Constitutional Court points out – would like to extend the mitigating mechanism provided for the offence of drink-driving without an accident to the offence of failing to comply with the obligation to stop in the event of an accident resulting in personal injury. This is despite the fact that the legislature has limited the application of the reward scheme – even within the context of the offence of drink-driving itself – solely to cases where the impairment did not cause an accident. The two situations cannot, however, be treated as equivalent. This is due, first and foremost, to the greater seriousness of the offence of failing to comply with the obligation to stop.

The material element of the offence, usually referred to as ‘fleeing the scene’, ‘consists – as stated in the judgement – in leaving the scene of the collision in such a way as to prevent or even merely hinder the establishment of one’s identity, the identification of the vehicle involved in the collision and the reconstruction of the circumstances of the accident’. As for the subjective element of the same offence, intent is required. An act that expresses a conscious determination not to accept responsibility for one’s own conduct and the decision to leave the scene of the accident without regard for the consequences, thereby increasing the danger to the physical safety and lives of the other people involved.