In the past, if you had the misfortune of falling asleep while driving and caused a car accident which consequently killed someone, you would probably have been accused of a few traffic offenses but not “causing death by negligence”.
Due to the high number of deaths caused by negligent drivers, the legal policy has changed. As we have learned from many of the latest court decisions.
A Few Examples
Mr. Doe felt asleep while driving. As a result another driver was killed. His punishment was 20 months in jail, another 20 month suspended and in addition he had his license canceled for a 15 year period.
Mr. Smith didn’t stop at a red light. As a result, one person was killed and two others injured. His punishment was 12 months in jail, another 12 month suspended jail term and in addition he had his license canceled for a 9 year period.
Our case
Levy felt asleep while driving. As a result one person was left dead and few others injured.
The Honorable Judge, Mr. A. Tenenboim gave a few examples of the change of policy in his decision of 27/1/2009 (2001/08) as follows:
This case, as narrated in the protocol, had some peculiar aspects but the most important was the analysis by the Judge regarding the driver’s behavior previous to the accident including him driving very fast and playing with his phone as testified by witnesses who were in the car when the accident took place after the driver felt asleep.
The Judge added:
“Of course, punishment is individual and we need to adjust it to every singular case. But in our opinion first and foremost we have to analyze the specific degree of negligence of the defendant and sentence him/her accordingly. The more negligent the defendant was in his driving, more weight will be given to his punishment to that specific defendant and vice versa. The higher the negligence, more emphasis will be given on the public best interest.”
“Road carnage is a bad, sick phenomenon in our society and we must try to avoid this phenomenon by any means including changing the punishment.” (רע”פ 2842/96)
The driver
The driver was a scholar at a yeshiva, a volunteer at “Zaka” and in other institutions and had only one previous traffic conviction.
Although he had a valid license since 2003 with only on one infringement of the traffic laws, the Judge pointed out that being a Yeshiva student for all this period and not having a car, he therefore had not been driving a lot and as a result he could not possibly have infringed the law many times.
The sentence
The Judge decided to send a message to the public, a strong message even if the personal cost to Levy was high.
Levy was sentenced to two years in prison. In addition another seven month suspended prison term and a cancellation of his driver’s license for a period of 18 years.
There are many more Levys out there
Any of us who drive could be the next Levy. Any of our family or friends could be a victim to a driver like Levy, and precisely because of that we have to re-think the way we approach driving in this country – including our own driving.
But not only that, we need to understand how “accidents happen”. In fact, they don’t just happen – accidents are caused. They are caused by negligence, bad driving habits, and lack of respect for other drivers in the road.
We all have some part in what’s happening in this country, either as drivers or even as pedestrians. We are all educators and we all should be asking if we have done enough to educate our children on road safety, on how to respect others on the roads and also how to behave as pedestrians.
A final word
If we want changes we have to make them happen and not wait for the courtrooms to do the job for us, or instead of us.
It is in our hands and they are not tied up.
