"The peculiarity of women's eyes is that they can spot a stray hair on your coat but miss a fire hydrant when parking."
Unknown author
Every resident of Germany, and even a tourist, should know that it is quite easy to become a defendant in a criminal case in this country. Criminal liability applies, among other things, to offenses committed in connection with traffic accidents.
Under the provisions of the German Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch, StGB), the most serious of these offenses in connection with traffic accidents are:
- unlawfully leaving the scene of an accident (§ 142 StGB),
- endangering road traffic (§ 315c StGB),
- driving a motor vehicle while intoxicated (§ 316 StGB).
As a rule, leaving the scene of an accident is understood to mean a driver, who was involved in a traffic accident, leaving the scene in breach of the applicable traffic rules. This is an offense that can result in the loss of the driving licence.
A person is considered to have left the scene of an accident if that person was involved in the accident and left the scene before they:
- had, in the interest of the other parties involved and the injured party, allowed their identity, vehicle, and the nature of the incident to be established by staying present and stating that they had been involved in the accident, or
- had waited the period of time reasonably required, under the circumstances, for someone to be available to record the details of the incident (the waiting period).
For the offenses listed above, the law provides for a fine or imprisonment of up to three years. Liability also extends to a party who, after the required waiting period had elapsed, left the scene and subsequently failed to assist in promptly establishing the circumstances of the incident. The length of the minimum waiting period depends on the circumstances of the incident — the more significant the damage caused, the longer the required waiting time. In this article, we tell the story of one case from our varied legal practice involving the possibility of criminal liability for leaving the scene of an accident.
The Client's Story: An Uncertain Parking Maneuver in the Rain
Our client was a young woman — let's call her Olga. She had moved to Germany from St. Petersburg to study at university around two years earlier. Always known for her broad interests and love of travel, she often rented a car for the weekend and, together with a couple of friends, took short and long trips through various German cities and regions. One Friday, as usual, having picked up a car from one of the rental companies to set off early the next morning on another trip, she decided to stop at a nearby supermarket on her way home.
Driving home late in the evening, she pulled off the road into the parking lot in front of the store. Olga spotted a suitable spot for parallel parking between two cars. Not yet a very experienced or confident driver, she began to park slowly, reversing and gradually straightening the car. The maneuver was almost complete when she thought she had clipped the car parked behind her with her rear bumper. Olga immediately switched off the engine and got out to check what had happened. She carefully examined the rear bumper of her own car and the front bumper of the car parked behind her. It was dark outside and drizzling, which made it hard to inspect the vehicles. However, Olga found no damage on either her own car or the parked one. She locked her car, hurried into the supermarket, bought what she needed, and drove home.
A Witness's Statement and a Charge Under § 142 StGB
As it later turned out, an elderly man had been watching her park while he stood smoking near the supermarket's exit, waiting for his wife. It seemed to him that the young woman had clipped the car parked behind her while parking, gotten out to look at the damage, and then, without taking any steps to report the accident or find the injured party, carelessly left the scene. To put a stop to what he saw as unlawful conduct, the man went to the trouble of filing a report with the police describing what he had seen in detail. Naturally, he made sure to note down the license plates of all the vehicles "involved" in the accident and attach a sketch of the incident.
The German police acted promptly and efficiently in this case. Based on the witness's statement, an accident report was drawn up stating that the young woman, having clipped the car parked behind her while parking, inspected the damage and then, without taking the measures required after an accident, left the scene. Our readers can no doubt imagine Olga's surprise when, about a week after the incident, she unexpectedly received a letter summoning her to a police interview in connection with criminal proceedings opened against her under § 142 StGB. As already mentioned, if found guilty of the criminal offense, she faced a substantial fine or, in an unfavorable scenario, even imprisonment. Finding herself in such an ambiguous and unexpected situation, she turned to our law firm hoping for qualified legal support from a professional attorney.
The Attorney's Work: No Evidence of a Collision
The attorney who took on Olga's case first went over the circumstances of the incident with her in detail, and then requested the case file from the police. It was necessary to determine whether the file contained reliable evidence that our client had in fact caused a traffic accident and left the scene without informing the other party. The attorney asked the client to try once more to recall the events as precisely as possible. As Olga told us, she genuinely did not know for certain whether she had clipped the car parked behind her or not. That is precisely why she had gotten out of the car and carefully inspected both vehicles for any damage. Having satisfied herself that there was no damage, she had gone into the store to shop.
The material in the criminal file likewise did not make it at all clear that an accident had actually occurred. The photographs in the file showed no visible damage, and from where the witness had been standing smoking outside the supermarket, it was simply not possible to determine with certainty that a collision had in fact taken place. The witness did accurately describe the young woman getting out of the car to inspect both vehicles, but the file contained no evidence that, having inspected them, she had found any damage and knowingly fled the scene of an accident.
On the basis of the available facts and evidence, the attorney therefore filed a petition with the public prosecutor's office requesting that the case be discontinued for lack of sufficient grounds under § 170 of the German Code of Criminal Procedure (Strafprozessordnung, StPO). In the petition, he drew the prosecutor's attention to the fact that the file contained no evidence of any damage having been caused, nor any indication that the other driver had ever had any damage repaired. Accordingly, there was no basis for concluding that Olga had knowingly left the scene in order to deliberately evade liability.
Outcome: The Case Was Dropped for Lack of Sufficient Grounds
After reviewing the arguments set out in our attorney's petition, the public prosecutor's office decided to grant it and discontinue the criminal proceedings for lack of sufficient grounds. Our readers can no doubt imagine what a weight was lifted off the young woman's shoulders when she heard this good news. Had she not sought professional legal help in time, she could have faced a substantial penalty over nothing at all. Olga thanked the attorney for his excellent work and asked whether she could turn to our firm again should the need arise.
Conclusion
To close this instructive story, it's worth adding a small aside on how, in Germany, it is always better to be safe than to let things take their course. In Berlin, a woman once found a wallet containing a thousand euros. True to the traditional German sense of honesty and precision, she did not keep what wasn't hers. She called the number she found in the wallet and offered to return it for a reward of one hundred euros "plus 20 euros for transport costs." But the pensioner who had lost the wallet turned out to be even more honest and precise than she was. He reported the matter to the police, and the woman was arrested for extortion the moment she handed the wallet over.
The moral of this story is that two civilized people in a state governed by the rule of law will always find common ground. We wish our readers to always stay alert and observe the law and the requirements of public order, especially while in a foreign country. And if a situation requiring qualified legal help has already arisen, we invite you to a consultation with the experienced professionals at our firm.
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