Fatal crash on the A66: what penalties are there for speeders?

A fatal accident occurred on the A66 in Hessen a little over a week ago, probably caused by a illegal car racing. The incident caused a stir across the country and demands that the perpetrators receive harsh sentences. The charge is, it seems, Murder. But now the question also arises: Will the catalog of fines even change as a result of this incident?

Arrest warrant issued against driver

The public prosecutor's office issued an arrest warrant against the three drivers involved. The charge: murder for low motives. One of the three men, 34 years old and without a permanent address, was publicly wanted until recently (October 14, 2020). As already mentioned, the reason is probably an illegal street race that should have taken place on October 10, 2020. According to the statements of the investigators, the three men drove with their athletes, two Lamborghinis and a Porsche, at extremely high speed on the A66 near Hofheim am Taunus. In this race, one of the three men lost control of his vehicle and an uninvolved Skoda was rammed. Both cars went up in flames. The driver of the Skoda, a 71-year-old woman, was killed. However, the presumably guilty man is not a completely unknown person: Navid F. followed 1,1 million users on Instagram, where he liked to present powerful vehicles.

Peter Beuth (CDU), for his part, Interior Minister of Hesse, makes his position clear in this case and calls for harsh punishments for the three men. In his opinion, the legal framework must be exhausted as much as possible, which is not only intended to punish the speeders, but also to deter anyone who might want to imitate such a race. According to Peter Beuth, someone who drives a vehicle so selfishly and recklessly has not lost anything at the wheel of a sports car, but has to be imprisoned.

Conditional intent to murder is in the room

It wouldn't be the first time an accidental death has resulted in life imprisonment. This happened for the first time three years ago as part of the processes surrounding the so-called Kudamm speeders. One of these decisions is final, while the other has been overturned by the BGH, with the end still open. The decisive factor is Section 13d Paragraph 2017 StGB, which has existed since October 315, 5. This states that a person who has killed or seriously harmed another person in an illegal street race can be sanctioned with a prison sentence of between one year and 10 years. This also includes the “race against yourself”. In addition, according to a BGH judgment (June 18.06.2020, 482; Az: StR 19/211) the killing of a person during a race could be charged with murder, which is subject to life imprisonment according to §XNUMX StGB.

Or was it an unknown vehicle?

Current status (October 19.10.2020, XNUMX): The public prosecutor now believes they know the real reason for the accident. It is not the drivers of the sports cars, but a “still” stranger who are responsible for the accident due to a maneuver. Presumably a lane change by an uninvolved car caused one of the sports car drivers who is said to have participated in the race to swerve and lose control. According to a spokeswoman for the Frankfurt public prosecutor's office, the evaluation of a video revealed the scenario. The unknown vehicle had swerved to the left from the central lane to overtake and the sports car driver then crashed into the central crash barrier and then into another car. The investigation continues.

Is the StVO amendment coming?

The countries' transport ministers held some video conferences, one of which was New edition of the StVO was the focus. However, no agreement was reached. The current state of affairs was that the controversial StVO amendment was due to a formal error as invalid was recognized. While the Greens, for example, want to correct the formal error and thus want to stick to the harsh penalties, the CDU, among others, is campaigning for mitigation.