Penal Law for Traffic Offenses

According to the information provided by the Federal German Bureau of Statistics the police recorded more than 2.4 million - traffic - accidents in 2013. This shows that it must be the foremost objective of penal law for traffic offenses to aim at an improvement of traffic safety. The most frequent cause for accidents involving bodily injuries is inappropriate excessive speed. In the case of serious accidents with casualties the „speed“ cause rate was approximately 30%. Another considerable circumstance which comes in in the case of these latter accidents with casualties was the influence of alcohol which accounted for 8%.

 

In order to ensure that the provisions of penal law for traffic offenses will have positive effects it is necessary that these provisions are actually accepted by the road users. The introduction and use of sustainable and distinctly perceptible monitoring measures is another prerequisite for the implementation of pertinent rules. In materializing this goal the legislator developed and installed an appropriate system of penal sanctions in which the legislation differentiates between traffic offenses and minor misdemeanours.

 

In cases of minor misdemeanour the underlying ethical concept of wrongdoing is of a less severe character. The prosecution and the punishment of minor misdemeanours is in the hands of an administrative authority. Minor misdemeanours are sanctioned by administrative fines and a driving ban and the case is recorded in the Central Register for Traffic Offenses.

 

German penal law for traffic offenses protects some of the elementary values which characterize our social life. The prosecution of traffic offenses is incumbent upon the public prosecutors’ offices. Pertinent punishments are imposed by the penal courts which inflict fines or an imprisonment punishment. In addition these traffic offenders are also susceptible of ending up with driving bans or with a withdrawal of their driving licence. These are equally recorded in the Central Register of Traffic Offenses.

 

Independently of such imprisonment penalties it is these very last-mentioned punishments, i.e. the withdrawal of a driving licence and a driving ban, which have an extremely serious impact upon the life of the person concerned.   In the societies of our day and time mobility is an important good, which means to say that having a driving licence is of essential importance. Minor occurrences of carelessness or negligence or driving mistakes in traffic on roads can jeopardize a person’s driving licence, even in cases where they do not result in an accident.

 

One of the specific focuses of our office’s competences is the field of penal law for traffic offenses and the law concerning minor misdemeanours in traffic, as it is our particular endeavour to assist and support you when it comes to investigation proceedings. It is especially in connection with traffic law cases that it is important to contact and brief a lawyer in the early stages of investigation proceedings. Our lawyers Mr. Kämmer and Dr. Schröder, qualified experts for traffic law, both have long years of experience and practice in this field.

Other legal areas around Traffic and Criminal Law