Facts
On 3 September 1975, at 1:55 pm, Robert Gefter was driving his vehicle from Bahnhofstrasse towards Karl-Neuhausstrasse in Bienne, crossing the Schüss bridge. At the same time, Frank Zimmermann was approaching this bridge on Karl-Neuhausstrasse at a speed of 40-50 km/h. As soon as Gefter had completed his turning manoeuvre at a speed of 10-15 km/h, Zimmermann attempted to overtake him. During this manoeuvre, he collided laterally with Gefter's vehicle, which was about to turn left onto the Quai inférieur Nord after the bridge. The President of the Bienne Court convicted Zimmermann on 10 March 1977 of an offence under Art. 35(5) RTA and fined him 80 francs. The Cantonal Court of Berne subsequently acquitted him of this offence on 5 July 1977, but found him guilty of a violation of Art. 35(1) RTA and fined him 80 francs. Zimmermann filed an appeal for nullity against this decision.Considerations
The Federal Tribunal considers that the appeal is admissible insofar as it requests the case to be remanded to the previous instance for a ruling of acquittal of the appellant. However, the Federal Tribunal cannot itself pronounce the acquittal, in accordance with Art. 277ter(1) FCJA.
The Cantonal Court reproached the appellant for not having exercised the caution required by Art. 35(3) RTA towards the driver to be overtaken. Although Gefter did not swerve to the left after turning into Karl-Neuhausstrasse and did not drive particularly far to the right either, the appellant did not sufficiently take the circumstances into account. He was on a relatively busy urban road, near an intersection where vehicles turning left could be expected. Furthermore, Gefter's particularly slow driving suggested that he was still undecided and unable to clearly indicate the direction he was going to take. In this confusing traffic situation, the appellant should have waited to overtake until it was possible to ascertain any change of direction of the…