After the accident, the Ministry of Public Security quickly dispatched a working group led by the Traffic Management Bureau to Mianyang to guide the investigation and handling of the accident. After preliminary investigation, the main cause of the accident was speeding when Xu drove the overloaded heavy semi-trailer through the continuous downhill curve section. The speed limit of the accident section is 40 km/h, and the allowable actual speed is 57-63 km/h. In addition, the tank marked with cement is actually filled with fly ash, and the center of gravity of the car body is high, which causes the heavy-duty semi-trailer tank car to turn left, collide and squeeze with the bus driving in the opposite direction, and then turn over and come in the opposite direction. At present, the local public security organs have criminally detained the driver of the heavy-duty semi-trailer tank car according to law, and controlled three responsible personnel of the cargo loading enterprise and the freight transportation enterprise.
In this traffic accident case, what kind of criminal responsibility should the driver Xu and the units involved bear and the civil liability for compensation for the casualties?
In this regard, Chai Xin, a lawyer from Beijing Dacheng (Wuhan) Law Firm, said that the responsibility for the accident should be analyzed from three aspects: civil, criminal and administrative. In terms of civil compensation for casualties, if the driver who caused the accident did not intentionally or grossly neglect, but only performed the duties of the unit driver, he himself did not need compensation. The families of the deceased and the injured will be paid by compulsory insurance first, and then by commercial insurance within the limit. The insufficient part will be compensated by the driver's unit. If the driver has intentional or gross negligence, Xu needs to bear joint liability with the unit. If the traffic police divide the proportion of accident responsibility, all parties shall make compensation according to the divided proportion.
Regarding criminal responsibility, the driver is suspected of causing traffic accidents. Since the traffic police have not issued a traffic accident certificate, it is difficult to judge the proportion of responsibility. However, according to the judicial interpretation, if more than 6 people are killed and bear the same responsibility for the accident, they need to be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of more than 2 years and less than 7 years. In this case, the driver who caused the accident is mainly responsible or fully responsible. If the traffic accident does not involve escape and cause death, the maximum sentence is 7 years, and Xu will be punished according to the top penalty. In addition, due to Xu's failure to perform the duties of safety production management, it allowed severely overloaded and speeding vehicles to drive on the road, which caused extremely serious consequences. Its main person in charge is also suspected of committing a major accident, and it is very likely that he will be investigated for criminal responsibility.
In terms of administrative responsibility, because Xu's company did not strictly fulfill the obligation of safety production management, the safety supervision department can also impose administrative penalties on Xu's unit and main person in charge according to the Safety Production Law.
Lawyer Lan, a partner of Jiangsu Fade Dongheng Law Firm, said that the driver may bear all or the main responsibility for the accident, which is a violation of traffic management regulations, causing a major accident death and suspected of traffic accidents. According to the provisions of the criminal law and judicial interpretation, if a traffic accident causes two or more deaths and bears all or the main responsibility for the accident, it belongs to other particularly bad circumstances and is sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years.
Whether the responsible persons of cargo loading enterprises and freight forwarding enterprises should bear criminal responsibility depends on whether they violate the relevant safety management regulations in their daily management, such as illegally modifying vehicles to facilitate overloading. If there are all kinds of illegal acts, it may also violate the crime of major liability accidents stipulated in the criminal law. As for civil compensation for personal injury and death, it mainly includes medical expenses, lost time, living expenses of dependents and death compensation. Depending on how the accident certificate is determined, the general insurance company will compensate within the insurance liability limit; The insufficient part, involving the driver of heavy-duty semi-trailer tank car, shall be shared by the enterprise and the driver.
The families of the victims or the injured may sue the driver's company, the driver's company and the insurance company insured by the driver at the same time, demanding civil compensation. If the bus party is also at fault, the families of the victims or the injured may also sue the insurance company, bus company and bus driver insured by the bus company for civil compensation.