Representatives of the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina (SBiH) in the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Admir Čavalić and Safet Omerović, submitted to the parliamentary procedure a proposal to amend the FBiH Criminal Code for stricter punishment of drivers who hide traffic accidents under the influence of alcohol.
Čavalić and Omerović propose that the punishment for the aforementioned criminal offense be up to ten years in prison instead of the current three years.
“The amendment refers to Article 333, which for the time being states that the punishment for driving while intoxicated is three years in prison, if a certain accident occurs. My colleague Omerović and I propose that it be ten years. We believe that this is a good step forward in the way that let’s reduce the frequency of driving while intoxicated, because there really shouldn’t be tolerance, that is, there should be zero tolerance, all because of the recent events in which a young doctor lost her life,” Čavalic said.
He states that it is understandable that traffic accidents happen and that there can be countless reasons why they can happen, but driving while intoxicated must not be one of the reasons.
“We as a society, in this case the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, should not have tolerance for the above and should raise the penalties to 10 years, and then gradually change other articles of the law in a way to maximally disincentivize future drivers, to make it clear to them that they would not they should use their vehicle if they are intoxicated and they should find an alternative, i.e. go on foot, use a taxi, bus, tram,” Čavalic said.
The representative of the SBiH states that the proposed law will be sent to the Government of the Federation of BiH, which will make a statement about it.
“We expect a positive opinion, but whether positive or negative, in a month it will be ready to go to the Federal Parliament and then the chairman will put the proposal on the agenda. At least within a month this law can be considered, if not then, I hope by the end of the year, we had some progress and changes in that matter,” said Čavalić.
