PNL wants tougher penalties for locomotive drivers caught drunk

In the context in which, in recent years, there has been an alarming increase in the number of railway accidents resulting in victims, also caused by this category of employees who are under the influence of alcohol or other substances, Senator Nicoleta Pauliuc (PNL) initiated a proposal legislation that will increase the penalties for mechanics who are in a state of intoxication at work and who refuse or avoid taking samples in order to establish blood alcohol levels or the presence of other substances, clubferoviar.ro informs, quoting an article from JustNews.

The proposal to amend Article 331 of Law no. 286/2009 regarding the Criminal Code, provides: "(4) The refusal or evasion of the employee with attributions regarding the safety of the means of transport, intervention or maneuver on the railway to submit to the taking of biological samples necessary in order to establish the alcohol level or the presence of certain substances psychoactive, for the facts provided for in par. (2) and (3), is punishable by imprisonment from 3 to 10 years and the prohibition of certain rights".

On the agenda of the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies is also the draft Law for the amendment and completion of some provisions of the Criminal Code, with a similar regulatory object. Regarding the initiative of Senator Nicoleta Pauliuc, the Executive led by Marcel Ciolacu announced that it supports it, with observations.

Currently, as part of the offenses against traffic safety on public roads, the Penal Code criminalizes both the act of driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or other substances, as well as the interrelated act of refusing or evading the taking of biological samples. Compared to this legislative framework, in the field of crimes against railway traffic safety, the Criminal Code only criminalizes the act of "leaving the post and being at work under the influence of alcohol or other substances", without also criminalizing the act of refusing or evading the taking of biological samples in order to establish the alcohol level or the presence of psychoactive substances.

This legislative loophole can currently jeopardize the process of justice, because employees with duties related to the safety of the means of transport, intervention or maneuver on the railway cannot be held criminally liable unless they give their consent to the taking of biological samples.