Facts
On December 22, 1992, D. was driving an articulated vehicle on the main road towards Frauenfeld. When he arrived at the intersection with Steinerstrasse, he stopped at the stop sign and looked left and right. He saw a truck approaching from the right and decided to cross the intersection. When he reached the middle of Steinerstrasse, he saw a moped appear in his field of vision and braked immediately, but the moped collided with the vehicle and the driver was killed.
The court of first instance convicted D. of negligent homicide and fined him. The court of appeal upheld the judgment. D. appealed to the Federal Court, arguing that the moped driver had acted unlawfully by not respecting traffic rules.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the question of whether D. had committed a fault by not seeing the moped earlier. It considered that the driver of an articulated vehicle must pay primary attention to priority traffic on the road he is crossing when crossing an intersection. He is not required to check if a moped does not enter traffic in an unlawful manner.
The Federal Court also considered that the moped driver had acted unlawfully by not respecting traffic rules.…