An Empirical Study Of Traffic Accident Liability Determination

The responsibility of the perpetrator of the traffic accident and the harmful consequences caused by the act are two indispensable elements for evaluating the criminal liability of the perpetrator.Therefore,the traffic accident liability certificate is an important basis for the determination of the traffic accident crime.A sample of 139 criminal traffic accident verdicts in City H(urban area)from 2019-2021 was obtained through a search of the China Judicial Documents website,and the following legal problems were found: first,the people’s courts equated administrative liability with criminal liability.People’s courts generally review traffic accident liability certificates only for form,rarely for substance,and use traffic accident liability certificates as a direct basis for courts to determine criminal liability for traffic collisions;second,courts use traffic management departments’ determination of liability based on presumptions as a basis for determining criminal liability for traffic collisions;third,courts ignore the victim’s fault when hearing cases of presumed liability,even with Fourth,the procedure for determining the responsibility of traffic accidents is flawed,and the investigator is also the person who determines the responsibility of traffic accidents.At the same time,when the traffic management department makes administrative responsibility,the person who bears the responsibility does not participate in the hearing.The author believes that the division of responsibility by the traffic management department according to the road traffic management law is an administrative law division of responsibility,not necessarily or ipso facto criminal liability.In criminal cases of traffic accidents,the perpetrator’s responsibility in the accident is directly identified and presumed to be identified in two ways.The presumed responsibility of the traffic management department should not be used as a basis for criminal liability for traffic collisions.The people’s court hearing traffic accident cases need to screen and review the traffic accident liability determination,it is not appropriate to accept it as is.The traffic accident liability certificate has the nature of both documentary evidence and appraisal evidence;the determination of the basic facts of the traffic accident is documentary in nature,and the analysis of the cause of the accident and the determination of the responsibility of the accident is appraisal in nature,and the establishment of a traffic accident liability institution independent of the investigating authority can solve the role conflict of the traffic management department as both the investigator of the traffic accident and the accident liability officer;try to establish The trial of traffic accident cases where full responsibility is presumed requires examination of whether the victim is at fault and the size of the fault,and if there is obvious fault,the defendant’s punishment should be appropriately mitigated or reduced according to the victim’s degree of fault.