Parliament confirms the creation of a crime of “truck homicide”

Parliament ratified Tuesday 1^is July the creation of an offense of “road homicide”, after a final favorable vote of the Senate which will allow the rapid implementation of this legal development, long claimed, in particular by the families of victims.

Relaunched in February 2023 by the accident caused by the actor Pierre Palmade, the debate therefore led to Parliament with the final adoption of this law. It will continue managers of fatal accidents accompanied by an aggravating circumstance (such as the consumption of narcotics or the lack of license) for “road homicide” and no longer for “manslaughter”, a qualifier denounced by the victims.

For the past three years, it has also been the fight of the starred chief Yannick Alléno and his association Antoine ALLENO, named after his son who died in May 2022 after being struck by a driver multiplying the serious offenses which was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for “manslaughter”. However, the use of the adjective “involuntary” moves away the victims and their families, who often struggle to accept it when they face deliberate behavior such as the conduct under the influence of narcotics or without a license.

“Put an end to the archaism of our criminal law”

“It is the culmination of hard work against injustice”was delighted Yannick Alléno in a press release by which he greets the adoption of this text, which goes “Put an end to the archaism of our criminal law”.

“Nothing will repair the irreparable. But the law, now, will no longer look away ”was satisfied with the Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin, appreciating a law which “Confirm with clarity that killing on the road, under the influence of alcohol, under the influence of drugs, in speeding or in the deliberate contempt of the rules is not a simple accident, it is a criminal act”. This claim was shared to the league against road violence, it arguing that this “Semantic change, desired by the victims, also incorporates more aggravating circumstances”.

With this offense, deadly traffic accident officials accompanied by at least one aggravating circumstance will be prosecuted for road homicide. These aggravating circumstances are the violation of a safety measure, the state of drunkenness, the consumption of narcotics or psychoactive substances, do not hold a permit, an exceeding of the maximum authorized speed equal to or greater than 30 km/h, the offense of flight, using your mobile phone by hand or with headphones, the refusal to obtain, the urban rodeo.

The same penalties as manslaughter

When a driver is guilty of one of these circumstances, he will be liable to seven years ‘imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 euros, a sentence high at ten years’ imprisonment and 150,000 euros beyond two aggravating circumstances. These are the same sorrows as those currently incurred with manslaughter. A point that worries, while some observers believe that the average sentences currently pronounced is two years’ imprisonment.

“I fear the idea that the magistrates do not go beyond their analysis of the traffic accident as remaining an accident. They could have done it if we had changed the quantum of the penalties ”underlines, at the France-Presse agency, Vincent Julé-Parade, specializing in the defense of the victims of the road.

Several senators issued the same doubts on Tuesday during the final examination of the text, fearing a text only “Symbolic” But nevertheless consenting to adopting the bill without modification to avoid prolonging the legislative process. The rapporteur (Les Républicains) Francis Szpiner thus judged the text “Imperfect”believing that the work should be prolonged to, in the long term, “Let the drivers understand that their behavior is criminal”.

In 2024, 3,190 people died on the roads of France hexagonal and 233,000 were injured, including nearly 16,000 seriously, according to the interministerial national observatory for road safety which specifies that two thirds of body accidents have at least one aggravating factor and three -quarters of the officials repeat, almost as frequently and more seriously than before.