Impound not prison - 23.07.2010

PRISON sentences for serious road offences could be substituted by impounding the culprit's vehicle instead.

Head of the prosecution service for road safety, Bartolomé Vargas, says nearly 500 of Spain's 1,500 prison inmates who are serving sentences for motoring offences are in Catalunya.

 

 

Most of these inmates have been jailed for driving without a licence, driving under the influence of drink or drugs, or dangerous driving – which includes negligent homicide.

 

 

Vargas says jailing offending motorists is 'very harsh' and should be kept only as a punishment for 'very serious' offences.

 

 

This includes certain levels of dangerous driving, a definition that has now been extended to include tail-gating drivers, and also road-rage, both of which can attract between six months and two years in jail.

 

 

But for other offences, Vargas says he would rather see the motorist's vehicle impounded instead of adding to the headcount of Spain's already overcrowded prisons.

 

 

However, this decision would be made based upon the vehicle's value, since 'impounding a ten-year-old car is no deterrent' to committing crimes behind the wheel.

 

 

Vargas also revealed that 90 per cent of serious motor offences are committed by men, something he attributes to 'misunderstood masculinity behind the wheel'.