| TWO senior judges have proposed a new law that would include possible death sentences for drunk drivers found guilty of causing fatal hit-and-run accidents, the Jinan Daily reported yesterday. Gao Guijun, presiding judge at the Fifth Criminal Court of the Supreme People’s Court, and his deputy, Han Weizhong, suggested in an article published in Law Science Magazine that drunk drivers who resist arrest or cause severe losses while trying to flee the scene of a serious accident should be prosecuted under a new criminal law to be termed dangerous driving, punishable by sentences including the death penalty. The suggestion came amid China’s ongoing crackdown on drunk driving, which caused many fatalities last year and triggered an urgent public call for harsher punishments for all traffic crimes. Before last year’s crackdown, drunk drivers in China were seldom sentenced to death even if they caused significant property damage or loss of life. The judges specified, however, that the death sentence should only be applied to drunk drivers who are responsible for fatal accidents and then cause further damage or loss of life while trying to flee the scene. Under the current system, fleeing drunk drivers who cause serious damage are tried on charges of endangering public security, which is also punishable by death.(SD-Agencies)
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