According to a media report, the Federal Ministry of Justice no longer wants to treat hit-and-run accidents without personal injury as a criminal offense. According to the plans, anyone who only causes property damage in a car accident and flees should only commit an administrative offence, the editorial network Germany (RND) reported on Tuesday, citing a paper that the Ministry of Marco Buschmann (FDP) published shortly after Easter Request for comments should have been sent to professional associations.
Minister of Justice Buschmann wants to decriminalize hit-and-run without personal injury
“By downgrading the escape from an accident after pure property damage to an administrative offense, an undifferentiated criminalization of the person who caused the accident would be counteracted,” the paper says.
Currently, those involved in an accident who leave the scene of an accident without permission are punished with a fine or up to three years in prison. According to the plans of the Ministry of Justice, this should only apply to accidents involving personal injury in the future. As soon as there are physically injured people, it is always necessary “to remain at the scene of the accident and to identify yourself as a party involved in the accident,” the ministry paper continues. This applies “despite the self-accusation associated with the self-report of the accident of an accompanying act that may have been carried out” – such as drunk driving.
Against this background, there are, conversely, good arguments for refraining from punishing the failure to report the accident in the event of pure property damage, according to the RND report in the key issues paper. Paragraph 142 of the Criminal Code, which regulates escape from an accident, breaks the principle of “impunity for self-indulgence”.
Previously, those involved in an accident had to wait a “reasonable amount of time” at the scene of the accident. As an alternative, the Federal Ministry of Justice is bringing the establishment of a reporting obligation and reporting office into play. “It would be conceivable, for example, to report using a standardized online mask, possibly also with images of the scene of the accident and the damage to be uploaded, or a damage report to be fixed on the damaged vehicle, which, if carried out properly, would not constitute an act,” says the paper ministry.
