Reflexiones sobre la técnica legislativa y la reforma penal de la imprudencia en supuestos de conducción de vehículos a motor

Zusammenfassung

Within the framework of the decision to permanently abolish the catalogue of misdemeanours which was included into Book III of the Penal Code, the Organic Law 1/2015, 30th of March, introduced relevant changes into the current legislation concerning criminal negligence regarding homicides and injuries which have a special impact in the field of traffic and road safety. Slight negligence cases have been removed from the Criminal Law meanwhile, at the same time, a new category of negligence (the slight one) which is presenting a number of problems concerning interpretation and delimitation has been created. At this point I will reflect on the proposed reform of the Penal Code on this area, which is going through parliament at the time of writing, whose aim is to define and concretise ex lege what has to be understood as gross and slight negligence, to increase the penalties in case there is a high number of victims and to create a new, albeit highly arguable, offence: failing to stop at scene of accident.