Road safety – The Court of Cassation reminds that speed is not necessarily dangerous! –

The Court of Cassation recalls that speed is not necessarily dangerous !

Road safety - The Cour de Cassation reminds that speed is not necessarily dangerous! -

Paul Gomez, president of the criminal chamber of the Court of Cassation, has just admitted that speed is not dangerous in itself.

In a judgment of April 19 made public on Friday, the criminal chamber of the French Court of Cassation, chaired by magistrate Paul Gomez, clearly stated that "the fact of having driven at a top speed of 130 km / h did not necessarily the consequence of exposing others to a direct and immediate risk of death or injury ". The Court of Cassation – the highest body of French law – was to rule on the conviction of Claude Grunberg, surprised at 211 km / h on the motorway, two months’ suspended imprisonment and six months of license suspension for "putting in danger of the life of others "by the Court of Appeal of Aix-en-Provence. Claude Grunberg, who had appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that he had "failed to meet any particular obligation of safety or prudence", has just won his case: exceeding the authorized speed does not necessarily take life of others in danger! It will therefore be retried by the Montpellier Court of Appeal, which will have to find other legal bases if it wishes to maintain a conviction. This courageous decision of the Court of Cassation, which we imagine already shouted at by the tenors of political correctness, Le Monde in mind, has the double merit of reframing the debate on road safety at a time when the French Minister of Transport swears by a strengthening of repression in defiance of any element of prevention and training, and where the FFMC seems to have eased its foot on one of the most inept aspects of the Gayssot law: the very great speeding punishable by imprisonment. Because even without defending speed at all costs, nor resuming the air of "I drive correctly, it’s the others who do anything", it is undeniable that the motorist who changes direction without control (retro ) nor indication (flash) is more dangerous than a motorcyclist or another motorist who drives at 200 knowingly …

Eric MICHEL

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