Facts
On December 8, 1978 around 7 a.m., [L.] drove his truck with trailer from Lausanne to Morges to deliver goods to company P. Before entering the private road, he left the trailer parked on the edge of the Lausanne road, a thoroughfare limited to 70 km/h. The trailer, dark in color and not very visible at night, was parked straddling the sidewalk and the road, encroaching on the latter by about 1.10 m. It was not equipped with lights or a breakdown signal, but was located under a street lamp and near another lamp illuminating a pedestrian crossing.
Around 7:20 a.m., the moped rider M. collided with the trailer, sustaining a fracture of the 6th cervical vertebra with spinal cord displacement, resulting in sensory-motor tetraplegia. On October 31, 1979, the District Police Court of Morges acquitted [L.], but the Criminal Cassation Court of the Vaud Cantonal Tribunal convicted him on March 17, 1980 of bodily harm by negligence and fined him 300 CHF with a probationary period and a two-year record deletion.
Considerations
The Federal Court dismissed L.'s appeal for nullity. It considered that the alternative conditions provided for in Art. 23 para. 2 OCR for the obligation to place the breakdown signal were met: the trailer was parked in violation of the regulations and the weather conditions (freezing rain blown by the north wind) reduced the visibility of unprotected road users.
The Court then examined the…