Only 11 Drunk Drivers
Reported Convicted In 2009
The Policía de Tránsito (traffic police)
recieved an early Christmas president in
December 2008, when the tough drunk driving
provisions contained in the reforms to the
Ley de Tránsito went into effect. However,
has it been a success in reducing drunk
driving, that saw 43 deaths in 2009?
According to figures by the Policía de
Tránsito only 11 drunk drivers have been
reported as convicted by the Tribunales de
Flagrancia de Goicoechea, of the 3.400
drivers who were caught by tránsitos
(traffic officials) with a blood alcohol
limit of 0.75 or more.
The Tribunales de Flagrancia de Goicoechea
is the main criminal court where drunk
drivers in San José are taken.
Tránsito says it does not have the numbers
from the other courts around the country.
According to the press office of the court
system, there is a backlog of information of
more than a year, information that is
supposed to be reported to the Consejo de
Seguridad Vial (Cosevi) and thus the Policía
de Tránsito, in a timely manner.
The "Flagrancia" court is a quick trial
court system. However, the Policía de
Tránsito report that many of the 3.400
drivers will be facing a trial in the
regular courts and that means delays of up
to 2 years.
For the Policía de Tránsito this has become
a serious problem.
The director of the Policía de Tránsito,
Germán Marín, told the La Nación that he
does not believe that the judges of the
Flagrancia courts are not interested in
trying drunk drivers, "they are more used to
dealing with crimes against property."
Marín added that the drunk driving
provisions of the new Ley de Tránsito has
been a learning process for the judges of
the Flagrancia court and that has also added
to the problem.
Under the new Ley de Tránsito, drunk drivers
face one to three years prison. Drunk
drivers are immediately taken into custody
and taken to the Tribunales de Flagrancia,
where judges immediately hear the case and
determine a sentence, which could community
work or educational programs as an
alternative to prison.
The convicted drivers who are ordered to
community work or educational programs,
rather than jail, report to the Cosevi.
However, the Cosevi reports no cases of
convicted drunk drivers successfully
completing a rehabilitation program, driving
program or community work.
Part of the problem is that the Cosevi is
not equipped to implement rehabilitation
programs.
One of the options available to judges in
the December 2008 law is to sentence a drunk
driver to a maximum 300 hours of community
work. However, because of the delay in
getting that information from the courts to
the Cosevi, the convicted driver is thus
responsible for showing up at the Cosevi.
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