The first person to go to trial charged with a crime against road safety for excessive speed under the new traffic laws has been acquitted.
The accused, a 39 year old man from Dos Hermanas, Sevilla, was arrested on January 15th at km 628 on the A-4 Madrid to Cádiz highway. He was travelling at 186kph on a stretch where the maximum speed limit was 100kph. The prosecution was asking for a three month prison sentence and a driving ban of one year and one day.
Under the new law, a speed in excess of 180kph in a 100kph zone constitutes a criminal offence, whilst 180kph or under would be a lesser, administrative offence.
The judge acquitted the man under the principle ‘in dubio pro reo’ (when in doubt, in favour of the accused). The current traffic legislation allows for a 4% margin of error for devices measuring speeds in excess of 100kph and the judge ruled that, had the error in this case been 3.2%, the accused would only have been travelling at 180kph and, therefore, not in breach of the criminal code.