Traffic accident abandonment: punishment 2019

Leaving the scene of an accident is a serious offense for which the driver must be punished, especially if people are injured in the accident. But until recently, the punishment was rather mild, and drivers who fled from the scene often bore less responsibility than those who stayed. Therefore, Vladimir Putin recently passed a law that toughens penalties for drivers who have left the scene of the accident.

What was the punishment before the tightening

Before the punishment was toughened, fleeing from the scene of an accident entailed administrative responsibility, regardless of the consequences of the accident. Previously, for this offense, drivers could be deprived of their rights from 1 to 1,5 years and arrested for a period of no more than 15 days, even if people died in an accident.

It turns out that the punishment for this was even less than for drunk driving, so they decided to make the punishment more severe.

What is the punishment for hiding from the scene of an accident in 2019 without victims

After tightening the rules in 2019, the punishment will be administrative only if no one was injured in the accident.

In this case, the punishment will be the same as before - that is, deprivation of rights from 1 to 1,5 years and arrest for several days.

What is the punishment for hiding from the scene of an accident in 2019 with the dead?

If in an accident someone was seriously injured or died, leaving the scene of the accident will be treated as a criminal offense.

The State Duma decided to toughen the punishment for this violation because in the past there was often a situation when the drivers who fled from the scene of the accident were less responsible than those who remained. Most often, these drivers were in a state of alcoholic intoxication, but when the next day they were found by law enforcement agencies, there was no alcohol in their blood. Therefore, they received less punishment than those drivers who remained at the scene of the accident.

To correct this injustice, amendments were made to Article 264 of the Criminal Code.

Now, if there are casualties in the accident, and the driver left the scene of the accident, he can be imprisoned for a term of 2 to 9 years, depending on the number of deaths. If only 1 person died, then the hiding driver can be sentenced to imprisonment for a period of 2 to 7 years, and if several people became victims, then the term will be from 4 to 9 years.

If there are no dead, but the victims were seriously injured, then the maximum period for the escaped driver will be 4 years.

In addition, after this incident, the offender will not be able to hold some positions for several years.

The limitation period for leaving the scene of an accident

The limitation period for such offenses is three months. That is, if during this period the driver was not brought to justice, then it will no longer be possible to punish him.

Сonclusion

Every year, many people die under the wheels of cars and sometimes the participants in an accident leave the scene. Most often this is done by those drivers who are drunk driving. This is unacceptable, especially if people were injured in the accident - you need to stay and call an ambulance and traffic police. Now the culprit of the accident will not be able to just leave the scene of the accident, since for this he may face criminal liability and a very real prison term.