Ensuring justice in fatal car crashes
A catch phrase in the above heading is car crash. The phrase is not used in the Ghanaian parlance; in its place, car accident is often used.
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Technically, an accident cannot be predicted or prevented. Car crashes on the other hand usually imply a negative outcome which may have been avoided if circumstances leading up had been recognised and acted upon prior to its occurrence.
A car crash occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal or other stationary obstructions, such as a tree or utility pole.
A car crash may result in injury, death, and vehicle and property damage. In the UK, a car crash, rather than accident, is used to reflect the blameworthy character of the incident.
Often, the public is inundated with shocking news such as “one dead in a car crash” and “driver arrested”. After a month of series of pre-trial incarcerations, the courts often release the suspects on bail, pending trial for investigators to complete a report to the Attorney-General’s (A-G’s) Department.
Car crash investigative report, annexed with documents, often takes months to complete. It has to pass the command structure of the police to the A-G Department in the regions. The overwhelming number of reports from all parts of each region and non-car crash reports awaiting briefs are challenging to the inadequate attorneys.
Thus, delays on car crashes’ trial take six months, a year or more before briefs are ready during which several intervening factors may occur, inhibiting expeditious trial.
The police commander who supervised the investigation or the investigative case officer might be transferred. Sometimes, witnesses are not available or the attorney handling the briefs is not at post, not losing sight of the sorrowful hand of death, all posing serious prosecution challenges and hardships to victims. Some insurance companies take advantage of the pending case to deny dependents/victims compensation, This does not build confidence in justice delivery as perpetrators are not appropriately and urgently penalised.
It is judicial notice that the world, over these fatal car crashes, primarily triggers a major driving offence of manslaughter, gross negligent driving or simply negligent driving. Murder requires an intention to cause the death of another person by an unlawful harm and could be disguised as car crash, but throughout our legal history, murder has not been established in fatal car crash. The referral of fatal motor crashes to the
A-G’s Department before prosecutions is unnecessary as summary trial under the Road Traffic Offence is the way to go.
A fatal car crash is prima face, a major traffic offence, and its trial should not cause delay given the Road Traffic Offences, Act 2004. In the UK, fatal car crash offences are found in the Road Traffic Act 1988, and Dr Roger Geary, Principal Lecturer in Criminal Law at Swansea Institute, stated in his book, Essential Criminal law: Causing death by dangerous driving, as defined in ss1 and 2A of the Road Traffic Act 1988 is in effect, causing death by grossly negligent driving.
This is because the defendant’s driving must fall far below the standard of the reasonably competent driver. It must be obvious to the careful and competent driver that driving in the way that, defendant was actually driving would cause danger of injury to the person or serious damage to property”. The UK Road Traffic Act 1988 made manslaughter (in car crash) gross negligent driving tried summarily under the Road Traffic Act 1988.
In Ghana, the Road Traffic Act, 2004 (Act 683) was passed which essentially replicates ss1 and 2A of the UK Road Traffic Act 1988 and similarly made reckless killing of a person through car crash a major driving offence; manslaughter (in car crashes) is a gross negligent driving offence to be tried summarily. Act 683: a person who drives a motor vehicle dangerously (manslaughter if death occurs) on a road commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction where death occurs to imprisonment for a term of not less than three years without the option of a fine and without a maximum year limit.
The way forward is for the Attorney General to issue administrative directives to allow the Judicial Police Department of the Police Service to prosecute fatal car crash offences summarily in accordance with the Road Traffic Act, 2004 (Act 683), and if there is a rare suspicion of murder in a car crash, the investigative report must be forwarded to the A-G’s Department for appropriate legal briefs. Justice will better be served in fatal car crashes if on their own, the judicial police summarily prosecutes such cases at circuit courts where the jurists would be prayed to apply the clearly defined reckless driving standards of section 2 of the Road Traffic Act 2004.
NOTE: I have endeavoured to express my opinion which does not necessarily represent the position of the Ghana Police Service.
The writer is the District Police Commander, Sogakope.