Comment to article 297. Leaving the scene of a traffic accident of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan

     Abandonment of the scene of a traffic accident by a person driving a vehicle who has violated the rules of the road or the operation of vehicles, in the event of the consequences provided for in Article 296 of this Code., —      

is punishable by restriction of liberty for a term of up to three years, or by arrest for a term of up to six months, or by imprisonment for a term of up to two years with or without deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to three years.

     Note. A person who has left the scene of a traffic accident in connection with providing assistance to victims is exempt from criminal liability under this article.

     The public danger of a crime lies in the fact that victims who are in a life-threatening and health-threatening condition and are deprived of the opportunity to take self-preservation measures are not always provided with the necessary assistance. As a result, the severity of the consequences increases and often they are the death of a person. In addition, drivers, fleeing from the scene of a traffic accident, usually exceed the permitted speed, grossly violate other traffic rules, which create emergency situations, often leading to a new traffic accident.      

According to art .1 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Road Safety" dated July 15, 1996. a traffic accident is an event that occurs during the movement of a vehicle along the road and with its participation, in which people were killed or injured, vehicles, structures, goods were damaged, or other material damage was caused. The legislator, in view of the urgent need to prevent such incidents, as well as to reduce the severity of the harm caused, considered it possible to separate this crime into an independent structure.      

The direct object of the crime is public relations in the field of road safety and the operation of specific motor vehicles. An additional object is the life and health of victims or property relations.      

The objective side of the crime consists in leaving the scene of a traffic accident by a person driving a vehicle and violating the rules of the road or operating vehicles, if he has the opportunity to assist the victim.      

If the perpetrator of the act provided for in Article 296 of the Criminal Code leaves the scene of a traffic accident, his actions are subject to qualification according to the totality of crimes - according to the relevant part of Articles 296 of the Criminal Code and Article 297 of the Criminal Code. At the same time, responsibility for leaving the scene of a traffic accident under Article 297 of the Criminal Code occurs regardless of the nature of the consequences provided for in Article 296 of the Criminal Code (moderate or serious harm to health, death of the victim), and awareness of their culpability, except in cases specified in the note to Article 297 of the Criminal Code.      

In the above-mentioned resolution on December 25, 2006. The Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan made the following changes: "if a victim who suffered serious or moderate harm to his health as a result of a traffic accident and who could not take measures for self-preservation due to his youth, old age, illness or helpless condition was knowingly left in a condition dangerous to his life or health by the person who committed the act, 296 of the Criminal Code, if the victim's death or other serious consequences occur due to negligence as a result of being left in danger., the act as a whole is subject to qualification in the aggregate according to the relevant part of art.296 of the Criminal Code, art.297 of the Criminal Code and part 2 of art.119 of the Criminal Code "Leaving in danger". If the injury caused in a traffic accident obviously did not pose a danger to the life or health of the victims, or when the victim immediately died at the scene of the accident, then there is no danger in the actions of the driver who left the scene of the traffic accident."      

Leaving the victim in danger by the driver in places where the victim could have been helped by other persons does not exclude liability under Article 119 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.      

The actions of a driver guilty of violating traffic safety rules and fleeing the scene cannot be further qualified under Article 119 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan if the death of the victim obviously occurred immediately at the time of the traffic accident.      

If the driver violated the Rules of the road or the operation of vehicles, as a result of which people were injured, and had no real opportunity to help them due to his helplessness resulting from the injury, criminal liability under Article 297 of the Criminal Code is excluded. There will be no corpus delicti for leaving the scene of a traffic accident by a participant who did not violate Traffic Rules.      

The necessary and obligatory signs of the objective side of this act are the presence of harmful consequences specified in art.296 of the Criminal Code and the presence of a causal relationship between leaving the scene of a traffic accident and the harmful consequences that have occurred.      

So, for example, the driver of a private taxi, P., following through the city at high speed, due to the fact that he was late for a call, due to a traffic jam that occurred during rush hour, committed an accident with an oncoming car, the driver of which suffered moderate injury, fled the scene, because he thought about responsibility for what he had done and assuming that no one noticed him in this alley.      

The crime in question has a material component and is therefore considered completed from the moment of the occurrence of the harmful consequences specified in art.296 of the Criminal Code.      

The subject of the crime may be a person who has reached the age of 16 and is driving a vehicle specified in the disposition and in the note to art.296 of the Criminal Code.      

The subjective side of the crime is characterized by an intentional form of guilt. The perpetrator deliberately does not provide assistance to the victim as a result of a traffic accident, anticipates the possibility of harmful consequences, desires or consciously allows them to occur. At the same time, a reckless form of guilt in the form of criminal arrogance is not excluded (for example, the driver leaves the scene of a traffic accident, hoping that the victim will be assisted by other persons who were at the scene).     

According to the note to Article 297 of the Criminal Code, cases of abandoning the scene of a traffic accident in connection with providing assistance to victims do not entail criminal liability. This note encourages the person responsible for the accident to provide assistance to the victims and take measures to save their lives and health.

Commentary from 2007 to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan from the Honored Worker of Kazakhstan, Doctor of Law, Professor, Academician of the Kazakhstan National Academy of Natural Sciences BORCHASHVILI I.Sh.                  

Date of amendment of the act:  08/02/2007 Date of adoption of the act:  08/02/2007 Place of acceptance:  NO Authority that adopted the act: 180000000000 Region of operation:  100000000000 NPA registration number assigned by the regulatory body:  167 Status of the act:  new Sphere of legal relations:  028000000000 Report form:  COMM Legal force:  1900 Language of the Act:  rus

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