by Rod Hughes

The effort to put teeth into the country’s traffic laws is still alive and well in a Legislative Assembly committee—but is a topic that lately puts members of the National Liberation Party against a legal consultant advising them, The argument revolves around Liberation deputies’ proposal to punish speeding, reckless disregard for human life and manifestly reckless driving with six months to four years prison.

Humberto Fallas, the consultant says this is the equivalent of cruel and unusual punsihment due to the fact that no crime has been committed. He favors much heavier fines than the weak law currently in effect. In this, he is partially backed by Transport Minister Karla Gonzalez who fears the law could become “an instrument against citizens.” She added that this proposal did not come from the Arias Administration.

But both Fallas and Gonzalez agree on jail time for drunken drivers and those driving under the influence of drugs. But as far as “manifest disregard for human life” is concerned, Fallas says this is the kind of vague, open-ended legal tactic that leaves too much to the judge’s interpretation of what consitutes this kind of driving. “This would be dangerous.” he said, while admitting that traffic death tolls are a “social disaster.”

This underscores an aspect of Costa Rican jurisprudence that demands that the judges take the law literally with little room for adjustment for crcumstances. This makes the lawmaking process long and painstaking, attempting to dot every “i” and cross every “t” and, some thing, demonstrating little confidence in the logic of their magistrates.