Stricter criminal liability for selected safety-related traffic offences under the 2023 amendment to the Penal Code

Abstract

In 2023, an act to amend the Penal Code, adopted a year earlier, entered into force. Its main purpose was to tighten the rules of criminal liability. One of the areas where the legislator introduced stricter rules of criminal liability are safety-related traffic offences. In this respect, special attention should be paid to two regulations, contained in Articles 178 and 42 of the Penal Code, which significantly increase the current permissible penalty for selected traffic offenses and introduce new, previously unknown grounds for increasing this liability. The amendment to the Penal Code in this respect raises fundamental doubts that lead to questioning these provisions.