Legal Consequences For Traffic Accident Perpetrators With Dead
Legal Consequences For Traffic Accident Perpetrators With Dead
Legal Consequences For Traffic Accident Perpetrators With Dead
Lafri Prasetyono
Faculty of Law, Universitas Pendidikan Nasional
Author’s email [email protected]
DOI : 10.23917/jurisprudence.v11i1.13489
Submission ABSTRACT
Track:
Objective: The purpose of the study is to determine the legal
consequences for traffic accident perpetrators causing death and to
Received:
investigate the legal considerations for perpetrators in criminal
24 Januari 2021 liability for traffic accidents.
Method: The research used is empirical legal. This research employed
Final Revision: sociological approach, legal approach, conceptual approach, and case
Available online: research subjects. The data used are primary data and secondary data.
Primary data were obtained from the field through interviews.
12 Januari 2022
Secondary data were obtained through library research in the form of
primary, secondary, and tertiary legal materials. The analysis
Corresponding
Author: technique in this research performed descriptive qualitative.
Lafri Prasetyono Finding: The legal consequence for traffic accident perpetrators with
[email protected]
om death victims is a minimum of 5 years imprisonment, as per Article 359
of the Criminal Code. Legal considerations for perpetrators in
criminal liability for traffic accidents comprise unintentional attribute
(accident), those who have never been convicted, settlement between
offender and victim, providing precise information, witnesses in
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INTRODUCTION
Traffic congestions are a frequent event on any road around the world. Thousands of
people lose their lives on the roads daily. Furthermore, millions must experience permanent
disabilities. Children and young adults are ages which are very vulnerable to accidents. Forty
teenagers die due to traffic accidents hourly. (Setyowati, D. L., Firdaus, A. R., & Rohmah,
2018). To understand and enact the noble purpose of Law Number 22 of 2009 on Road
Traffic and Transportation, the government, especially the Indonesian National Police, has
taken measures to promote the law. Moreover, it invites the public to implement and comply
with it, thus the prevailing obstacles can be overcome.
In the elucidation of Law Number 22 of 2009 on Road Traffic and Transportation, it
emphasizes: "The sharpening of the formula on the principles and objectives in this law has,
besides to create the secure, safe, orderly, smooth road traffic and transportation which is
integrated to other transportation modes, the objective to enhance the national economy,
realize the people welfare, national unity, and integration as well as being able to uphold the
national dignity. The security aspect was also taken into account and was emphasized in the
arrangement of Traffic and Road Transportation. Besides, this Law also emphasizes the
realization of ethics on traffic and national culture (just culture) through the efforts of
nurturing, counseling and education on traffic since the early age as well as through the
sustainable program."
To achieve the goal, public awareness and traffic discipline are essential. An effort to
increase awareness and traffic discipline is through the dissemination of understanding and
knowledge of traffic law in a practical and easily understood fashion to the general public. A
poor discipline and understanding of traffic law and manners of road users is something that
needs to be specially addressed to solve problems in traffic. Various efforts have been made
by the government to improve traffic situations in Indonesia, but they have not been able to
maintain the increase in traffic.
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Generally speaking, a road is a place for people to reach a destination due to various
interests using various vehicles or pedestrians. Roads become a vital tool in the people’s
economy, yet it is also a place where humans are victims that most of the time result in
enormous deaths. Based on the previous accident data, we experience the following facts:
From the data of two consecutive years, it was found the number of traffic accidents resulted
in 228 deaths, 306 serious injured, and 1,162 minor injuries. The number of traffic accidents
that had occurred was 1,031 times.
Efforts to restrain the enormous number of traffic accidents, future actions are directed
at comprehensive countermeasures which include efforts to foster, prevent, and regulate.
From these facts, it is important and relevant to scientifically study the criminal liability of
traffic accident perpetrators that oftentimes occur in society, which sometimes affect families,
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relatives, and community, and therefore community can be aware of it and use it as a guide in
their daily life.
Critical factors transforming the accident severity are presented in reports. (Kristle
Young, Regan, 2007) reviewing aspects of in-vehicle driver distraction, focusing on mobile
phone use state that this device has received the most concern in the distracted driving notion.
This paper also discusses the effect of in-vehicle devices on driving performance. (Haigney,
D. E., Westerman, 2001) studied the possible effects of mobile phone use on driving
performance. The relative effect of mobile phone and hands-free mobile phone use on driving
performance was studied involving thirty participants using a stimulator and reported. The
results revealed a decrease in the participants' average and standard speed during
conversations on mobile phones. Research shows that drivers often engaged in various
compensation approaches in an effort to maintain acceptable levels of driving performance
when interacting with in-vehicle devices.
By 2020, road traffic death increased by 80% every year in developing countries.
These countries have shown an increase in deaths and disabilities due to traffic accidents since
the 1980s. Based on social perspective, death due to traffic accidents results in profound
human grief and death, which directly and indirectly represents the loss of any country's
development resources. This is because it causes people to disabled, lose their property,
violates human rights, lose safety and basic freedom, and reduces access to sustainable
prosperity (Meirmanov, 2014). For those reasons, this study argues that road traffic accidents
are a threat to human safety, which severely affects its components such as food security,
economic security, personal security, public safety, and health security.
Analysis and prevention of accidents provide a modeling approach that connects
accident frequency to pavement conditions, visibility, and other influencing factors in the
event of blizzard (Taimur Usman, Liping Fu, 2010). The findings of this paper can be applied
to assess various maintenance strategies using safety as a performance measure. The paper
describes the empirical relationship between safety and pavement conditions, and makes
quantification of safety benefits more effortless (Beshah, T., Hill, 2010) by applying data
mining technology that relates documented road characteristic data to accident severity in
Ethiopia, and proposes regulations which the Ethiopian Traffic Agency can adopt to improve
safety. Ethiopian traffic control system data comprise several aspects of the traffic system,
such as traffic volume, traffic concentration, and motor vehicle accidents. This study assumes
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that accidents are not randomly distributed on the sides of the road networks, and drivers are
not randomly involved in accidents. Accident record has more than 40 texts, numeric, date,
and time factors. Among others are vehicle registration plates and driver's names which are
concealed for confidentiality purposes.
Information regarding road accidents remains unreliable in some developed countries,
while other developing countries have adequate data systems. This work has produced
extensive assessments of road safety status in 178 countries. Data obtained from national
governments in standardized survey forms are used to recommend measures to be adopted for
road safety and policies needed to reduce road accidents. It is also shown that there is no
relationship between national income level and the specific fatality rate of road users (Mohan,
2011).
Methodological analysis of accident prevalence and severity distribution of traffic
accident based on location, (Ahmad Hasan Nury, Jahir Bin Alam, Syeda zehan farzana, 2012),
vehicles, and duration. Poisson and negative binomial regression models are precise tools in
accident modeling. Personal Injury Collision (PIC) rates over the past decade on UK local
highway authority (G A Hindle, 2011). Significant differences in the improvement rate are
observed between the urban and rural dimensions and are highly dependent on the previous
level of PIC risk. This study displays site crash scenarios under constant camera surveillance
and their impact on accidents.
Road traffic accidents and deaths are a growing public health problem globally.
Research has shown that road traffic accidents are the leading cause of death and disability
worldwide, with a disproportionate number of them occurring in developing countries (Oduro,
2012). Road accidents are the result of many contributors including poor transportation
conditions, such as failure to wear seat belts, overcrowding, and non-roadworthy vehicles.
(Abrahim H, Ameyu G, Lakew A, 2011). Based on the background, this article will discuss
the legal consequences for traffic accident perpetrators with dead victims as well as legal
considerations for perpetrators in criminal liability for traffic accidents.
RESEARCH METHODS
The research used is empirical juridical because in this study, besides being based on
existing theories, it is also compared with research based on interviews and data in the field
(Hidayati, A., & Hendrati, 2016). This research uses a sociological approach, a statutory
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approach, a conceptual approach, and a case approach. This research on the risk of traffic
accidents is an observational study that only makes observations without giving certain
treatment to research subjects (Hidayati, A., & Hendrati, 2016). The data used are primary
data and secondary data. Primary data is data obtained from the field through interviews.
Secondary data were obtained through library research in the form of primary, secondary, and
tertiary legal materials. The analytical technique used in this research is descriptive qualitative
analysis.
DISCUSSION
1. Legal Consequences for Traffic Accident Perpetrators with Dead Victims
A traffic accident is an incident where a motorized vehicle collides with another object
and causes damage (Saputra, 2018). In the event of a traffic accident, obviously, it involves
one or more vehicles, which are driven by a driver. Those who are involved in traffic
accidents must hold responsibility for all their actions and all the consequences as a result of
the incident. According to Moeljatno, a legal principle states, "Without error, no crime"
(Saputra, 2018).
This principle is not explicitly stated in written law but does exist in unwritten law,
where this principle is acknowledged in Indonesia. Hence, a person cannot be blamable or
sentenced to a criminal sentence if it is not preceded by a guilty act committed by oneself. In
the explanation of Article 44 of the Criminal Code, it is stated:
a. Abnormal cognitive. What is meant by the "cognitive" here is: the ability of mind,
intelligence or reasoning. Thus, imperfect reasons are, such as: dumb, deaf, and mute
since birth.
b. Those included in altered mental are, such as: mental illness, epilepsy, and other
mental conditions.
c. According to A. Ridwan Halim, it is also stated: the perpetrators cannot be held
accountable for their actions in terms of the perpetrators:
1. Suffer from mental illness or altered mental.
2. Imperfect or abnormal cognitive development (dumb). (Ridwan, 1995)
The ratio that exempts those referred to in Article 44 of the Criminal Code from
criminal liability is that; they cannot predict or judge the consequences of their actions, thus
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such actions generally result without their awareness. Therefore, those stated in the
elucidation are deemed incapable of taking the responsibility for their actions. Consequently,
the relationship between liability and traffic accidents is: as long as the traffic accident
perpetrators are not mental, dumb, amnesic, therefore they can be held accountable for their
actions before the law.
In criminal law, the legal subjects are people, in this case, are those who are legally
accountable for their actions. As long as they are not mental, dumb, therefore they can be
legal subjects who will later receive legal sanctions according to the applicable law (Mulyadi,
2007). In connection to traffic accidents, the following possibilities can be deduced:
1. In a traffic accident involving two motor vehicles, who one of them dies, there will be
one living legal subject.
2. If three motor vehicles are involved and one person dies, two living persons will be
considered as legal subjects.
3. In point 2, if the one who dies is not one of the drivers but a passenger from one of the
motor vehicles, three drivers will become legal subjects.
The defendant has been legally proven to have committed a criminal act due to
negligence in a traffic accident causing the death of others and minor injuries and damage to
motor vehicles, therefore, the defendant is convicted to 8 (eight) months sentence. The
appropriate traffic control is regulated in Article 52 to Article 87 of Law Number 22 of 2009,
including: Regulating the use of traffic line or row, traffic movement, procedures for passing,
procedures for encountering, procedures for turning, procedures for slowing vehicles, the
position of the vehicle on the road, the distance between the vehicles, the main right at the
intersection.
The first priority is the use of roads for smooth traffic, stop and parking, the use of
supporting components and equipment for motorized vehicles. Warnings with sound and use
of lights, herding animals and the use of non-motorized vehicles, maximum and minimum
speeds, determination of the heaviest loads, and prohibition of road use. Therefore, it is
essential for investigators to master the rules contained in Article 54 to Article 87 of Law
Number 22 of 2009 to determine which of the drivers involved has committed an offense that
resulted in the accident. Thus, to determine the legal subject in a traffic accident, it is
necessary to understand the following:
1. That a traffic accident is caused by one or more violations.
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dies. The grief, pain, and sadness of the victims due to accidents is another threat to personal
safety, which also affects the personal well-being of the victims and their families. This also
has a mental, physical, and psychological impact on the personality of the victims and their
families (Hassan, 2010).
There are two possibilities in a traffic accident resulting in the victim's death, namely:
(1) The legal subject is the perpetrator who is lives; (2) The legal subject is the perpetrator
who dies. The investigation process refers to the prevailing laws and regulations, with the
investigation outcome definitely contrasting.
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51xx C motorbike ridden by the suspect "STI" in a collision with a Honda DK 840xx KM
motorbike ridden by "IKKK" bringing "NMS". The traffic accident occurred because the
suspect "STI" was negligent when driving a Suzuki DK 51xx C coming from the north and
did not maintain a safe distance, eventually resulting in an accident. The accident caused
injuries to the Honda DK 84xx KM motorcycle rider, while the passenger of Honda DK 84xx
KM had injuries and died at Sanglah Hospital Denpasar. The damage also affected Honda DK
84xx KM motorcycle and Suzuki DK 51xx C motorbikes.
Based on the above case, evidence and indications of a criminal act can deduce that;
anyone driving a motorized vehicle who due to his/her negligence, causes a traffic accident
with death victims or major injured, and minor injured as referred to in Article 310 Paragraph
(4) Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 22 of 2009 Article 310 Paragraph (3) Law of
the Republic of Indonesia Number 22 fYear 2009 and Article 310 Paragraph (2) Law of the
Republic of Indonesia Number 22 of 2009.
To avoid protracted matters, public legal awareness in traffic can create a synergized
collaboration between the community and law enforcement officers, especially the Police
handling traffic issues, by disseminating Law No. 22 of 2009, through the provision of driving
license strictly, considering education, psychology, and behavior, so it can reduce the accident
prevalence resulting from traffic violations, whether it is in the form of signs, or correct traffic
signs when parking vehicle on the side of the road must use red triangle sign as a mark that
there is a vehicle parking due to damage and so on, especially when the volume of vehicles in
traffic is dense and increasing.
Several aspects can reduce the perpetrators’ punishment in traffic accidents, such as:
accident (culpa), no conviction records, settlement between parties, giving precise
information, witnesses in mitigation, and then the threat of punishment can be reduced. Thus,
it can be determined that in the event of an accident or traffic violation resulting in death, the
sentence can be reduced if the accident is caused by pure accident, the young age of
perpetrator and settlement between the victim and the perpetrator, a straightforward statement
from the perpetrator in the court trial, as well as testimony from the witness.
CONCLUSION
From the discussion, it can be determined that the legal consequences for the traffic
accident perpetrators with dead victims can be punished with a minimum of 5 (five) years
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imprisonment according to Article 359 of the Criminal Code. Legal considerations for
perpetrators in criminal liability for traffic accidents include the element of accident, no
conviction records, settlement between parties, precise information, witnesses in mitigation,
thus the punishment can be reduced.
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