Qualification of Intentional and Reckless Violations of Traffic and Vehicle Operation Regulations

The authors examine the norms of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in terms of the regulation of criminal liability for violation of traffic regulations that entailed grievous bodily harm or death of the victim (Article 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), as well as the rules on liability for intentionally causing harm to human life and health. The aim of the study is to identify criteria affecting the qualification of intentional and reckless violations of traffic and vehicle operation regulations. In the study, the authors use the general scientific dialectic method of studying social phenomena and the analysis of judicial practice. The materials are the decisions of the judicial authorities on the issues of qualification of crimes. The authors analyze the issues of qualification of criminal violations of traffic and vehicle operation regulations to develop criteria distinguishing between unintentional violations of traffic rules that resulted in socially dangerous consequences by negligence and cases of intentional causing of harm to human health or human life associated with the use of a vehicle as an instrument for committing a crime. Considerable attention is paid to the question of assessing the state of intoxication when driving a vehicle as a factor affecting the form of guilt. As qualification criteria, the authors propose to rely on signs indicating the presence of direct or indirect intent (preliminary conflict with the victim, personal hostile relations, illegal behavior of the victim, etc.). For the correct qualification of criminal violations of traffic rules, it is necessary to take into account the nature of the person's behavior at the time of driving. Explicit gross ignoring of basic safety rules, dangerous maneuvering, deliberate collision of vehicles, deliberate collision with pedestrians or cyclists obviously suggesting harm, driving while intoxicated, significant speeding should be considered as factors of an indifferent attitude to the evident possibility of consequences and, accordingly, entail the qualification of actions as committed with indirect intent.

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