Red light accident: criminal penalties, recklessness and defences

If you run a red light and cause an accident in which someone is seriously injured or killed, you can be prosecuted under article 6 of the Road Traffic Act 1994 (Wegenverkeerswet 1994). The key exception is the degree of blame: ordinary fault carries a maximum of eighteen months in prison for serious injury and three years for a death, but recklessness (roekeloosheid) doubles those maxima to three and six years.

Those maxima rise by half in aggravating circumstances, such as driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, refusing a breath or blood test, or serious speeding. The court can also disqualify you from driving for up to five years. The victim can join the criminal case as an injured party. The Supreme Court (Hoge Raad) clarified the line between fault and recklessness on 15 October 2024 (ECLI:NL:HR:2024:1405).

Which provisions apply when someone runs a red light?

Four provisions of the Road Traffic Act 1994 do most of the work. They form a ladder of increasing seriousness rather than a set of alternatives.

Article 5 is the general rule. It prohibits behaving in traffic in a way that causes or can cause danger on the road, or that obstructs traffic. It is the lightest offence. It applies where your driving was careless but the consequences or the degree of blame remain limited.

Article 5a has applied since 1 January 2020. It makes it a criminal offence to deliberately behave in traffic in a way that seriously breaches the traffic rules, where this creates a foreseeable danger to life or of serious bodily injury to another person. No accident is needed. The provision lists examples, and driving through a red light is one of them. Others include dangerous overtaking, failing to give way, serious speeding, tailgating, driving against the direction of traffic and holding a mobile device while driving. The maximum sentence is two years in prison. One listed violation is not enough on its own: your conduct as a whole must amount to a serious and deliberate breach that creates that danger.

Article 6 is the central provision once an accident has actually happened. It prohibits behaving in traffic in such a way that, through your fault, an accident occurs in which another person is killed, seriously injured, or injured in a way that causes temporary illness or inability to work. The deciding word is fault, not intent. Nobody has to have wanted the collision. The prosecution must prove culpable conduct, and the court assesses your driving as a whole rather than one isolated moment.

Article 175 sets the penalties for article 6 in three steps. For ordinary fault, the maximum is one year and six months in prison (or a fourth-category fine) where another person is injured within the meaning of article 6, and three years where someone is killed. Where the fault consists of recklessness, the maxima are three and six years. On top of that, the maximum is increased by half if you were under the influence, refused a breath or blood test, or combined the offence with serious speeding, tailgating, failing to give way or dangerous overtaking. That brings the absolute maximum for a fatal accident to nine years. Under articles 179 and 179a the court can disqualify you from driving for up to five years, and up to ten years for a repeat offence within five years.

Article 308 of the Criminal Code (Wetboek van Strafrecht), causing serious bodily injury through negligence, still exists. In traffic cases, however, the specific provisions of the Road Traffic Act take precedence in practice. Our article on when a traffic violation becomes a criminal offence explains where the line between an administrative fine and a prosecution runs.

When does an injury count as serious bodily injury?

An injury is serious if, in the circumstances, it can reasonably be regarded as such; there is no fixed list. This matters because article 6 only applies where the accident caused a death, serious bodily injury, or an injury that led to temporary illness or inability to work. Where the injury stays below that level, for example a graze that needs no time off, only article 5 remains.

The Supreme Court works with an open standard. The factors that count are the nature of the injury, whether surgery or another substantial medical intervention was needed, the length of the recovery and whether there are permanent consequences. Broken bones, the loss of an organ or a sense, severe internal injuries and injuries that need long rehabilitation will normally be serious. A complaint that clears up within a couple of weeks normally is not. Psychological injury can qualify, but it must be supported by medical evidence.

For everyone involved, the medical file is therefore decisive, and it is built in the first days. As a victim, have every complaint recorded by a doctor straight after the accident, however minor it seems, and keep the reports. A complaint that first appears in the file three months later is much harder to link to the collision, both in the criminal case and in a claim as injured party.

Where is the line between fault and recklessness?

Fault means culpable, significant carelessness; recklessness means extraordinarily careless conduct that creates a very serious danger of which you were, or should have been, aware. This is the most important question in these cases, because it often decides whether the outcome is community service or a prison sentence.

Ordinary fault covers the driver who was distracted, who misjudged an amber light and thought he could still make it, or who simply did not look. He should have known better, but he did not deliberately choose to create danger. Whether a brief moment of inattention is enough for criminal fault depends on the circumstances. The court compares your conduct with that of a reasonably careful driver in the same situation. If the lower limit of criminal fault is not reached, you are acquitted under article 6 and at most the lighter offence of article 5 remains.

Recklessness requires more. In its judgment of 15 October 2024 (ECLI:NL:HR:2024:1405) the Supreme Court explained both concepts. Fault is culpable, significant carelessness, assessed on the whole of the driving behaviour. Recklessness is the most serious form of fault: extraordinarily careless conduct that creates a very serious danger, where the driver was aware or should have been aware of that danger. The court looks at the nature and seriousness of the conduct and the other circumstances of the case, not at one isolated act, and not only at how serious the consequences turned out to be.

Since the 2020 reform, the law also provides that recklessness is in any event present where the conduct also meets the description of article 5a. That is why the reform matters so much in red light cases: a deliberate and serious breach that creates a foreseeable danger to life now leads directly to recklessness. This does not mean the threshold has become low. Recklessness remains the most serious form of fault. The circumstances that push a red light case in that direction are recognisable: driving through the light at high speed, ignoring several lights or rules shortly before, racing, alcohol or drugs, and using a phone at the moment of the collision. What counts is the combination. A deliberate choice to cross a clearly red light at speed in a built-up area is a different case from a driver who braked too late.

What sentences do courts impose in practice?

In practice sentences are usually well below the statutory maximum. What is actually imposed follows the guidelines of the Public Prosecution Service (Openbaar Ministerie) and the orientation points used by the courts, applied to the facts of your case.

Where the court finds ordinary fault under article 6 and no recklessness, a case with serious injury often ends in a community service order, combined with a driving disqualification and sometimes a suspended prison sentence as a warning. The statutory maximum for community service is 240 hours. Where recklessness is proved, an unconditional prison sentence becomes a realistic outcome, even for someone without previous convictions, and the driving disqualification is usually considerably longer.

Sentences go up where there are previous traffic convictions, where the driver left the scene, where alcohol or drugs were involved, or where the driving showed a pattern rather than a single lapse. They go down where you have no criminal record, take responsibility, show genuine remorse and cooperate, where the consequences for you personally are severe, and where a long time has passed since the accident through no fault of yours. For young drivers the court can apply the rules of adolescent criminal law, with a different set of sanctions. Our article on what determines the punishment after a serious traffic accident explains that weighing in more detail.

Defendants regularly overlook that the criminal case is not the only procedure. Separately from the court, the Central Office for Driving Certification (Centraal Bureau Rijvaardigheidsbewijzen, CBR) can require you to follow an educational course or to undergo an examination of your fitness or ability to drive. If you do not cooperate or do not pass, the CBR can declare your licence invalid. That procedure has its own timetable and its own rules.

How can the victim join the criminal case?

A driver who runs a red light and injures someone commits an unlawful act. In the criminal case, the victim can claim compensation by joining the proceedings as an injured party.

This article deals with that criminal route only. The wider settlement of a personal injury claim with the driver or the insurer is a separate matter, which we refer to a specialised personal injury lawyer.

As an injured party (benadeelde partij) you can join the case under article 51f of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Wetboek van Strafvordering). The criminal court then decides on your claim, without court fees. That is the quickest route, but it only works for claims that do not place a disproportionate burden on the criminal case. A complex claim for loss of earnings may be declared inadmissible in part, and you then pursue that part in the civil court. Victims and surviving relatives also have the right to address the court about the impact of the accident.

How does the procedure work, step by step?

Immediately after the accident. The police secure the scene. In serious cases a specialised team prepares a traffic accident analysis (Verkeersongevallenanalyse). It reconstructs speeds, braking distances, the phase of the traffic lights and the sight lines, supported by camera images and witness statements. That report becomes the backbone of the criminal case. For the victim, medical care comes first, and the medical file that starts that day is later the most important evidence.

The investigation. The Public Prosecution Service assesses the file and decides whether to prosecute and on what charge: article 5, article 5a or article 6, with or without recklessness. A suspect may be questioned and, in serious cases, arrested. Pre-trial detention is possible but exceptional in traffic cases. As a suspect you have the right to consult a lawyer before and during questioning. In files like this it is worth checking early whether the accident analysis, the traffic light data and the witness statements really support the charge. Our note on investigative work in traffic criminal cases describes that check.

The hearing. The court goes through the file, the prosecutor asks for a sentence, the defence responds and the victim or surviving relatives may use their right to speak. The injured party’s claim is dealt with at the same hearing. Judgment and appeal. Judgment often follows about two weeks later. Both the defence and the prosecution can appeal to the court of appeal within fourteen days, and an appeal in cassation to the Supreme Court is possible after that.

Which defences are worth examining?

An accident at a red light does not automatically lead to a conviction under article 6. The defence starts with the file, not with the driver’s memory.

The first line is the fault itself. Was the light clearly red, or had it only just changed so that the driver could no longer stop safely? What do the traffic light control data show about the phase and its timing? Was the installation working properly? Was there an emergency vehicle, a sudden medical event or another circumstance that amounts to force majeure? And if there was a lapse, was it serious enough to reach the lower limit of criminal fault, or does the case belong under article 5? Where recklessness is charged, the prosecution must show extraordinarily careless conduct, or a deliberate and serious breach within the meaning of article 5a. The deliberate character of the breach is often the weakest link in the prosecution case.

The second line is causation. The accident and the injury must be attributable to the conduct charged. If the victim also broke the rules, for example by cycling without lights in the dark or crossing where that was not allowed, this does not excuse running a red light. It can, however, affect the assessment of fault.

The third line is the loss. Is the damage claimed really a consequence of this accident, or of a condition that already existed? A claim that is not substantiated, or that a criminal court cannot assess without a disproportionate burden, will be declared inadmissible in whole or in part. The fourth line is the person of the defendant. A clean record, genuine remorse, contact with the victim through your lawyer and the personal consequences of a driving disqualification all count towards the sentence, even when guilt is not in dispute.

How does the criminal case relate to a civil claim?

A red light accident with injury runs along two tracks that move at different speeds. The criminal case decides the degree of blame and the sanction. The civil case decides who pays for what, and it usually takes longer. The two influence each other, because a criminal conviction is strong evidence in the civil claim, but they are separate procedures and need different preparation.

What should you check as a suspect?

• Use your right to consult a lawyer before the first police interview (Article 28c Sv) and do not describe your own driving as reckless.
• Never leave the scene: leaving is a separate offence under article 7 of the Road Traffic Act and raises the sentence.
• Have the traffic accident analysis and the traffic light control data checked against the charge.
• Note the fourteen-day period to appeal after judgment.
• Respond to any CBR measure on your licence within its own deadlines.

What should you check as a victim?

• Have every complaint recorded by a doctor in the first days and keep going back while complaints continue.
• Ask for the police report number and keep a diary and all receipts.
• Join the criminal case as an injured party under article 51f Sv before the prosecutor’s closing speech at the hearing.
• Tell the Public Prosecution Service if you want to use your right to speak at the hearing.

What can we do for you after a red light accident?

Our criminal law team acts for suspects in traffic cases; a broader personal injury claim we refer to a specialised personal injury lawyer.

• We attend the police interview with you and advise on whether to give a statement.
• We request and test the traffic accident analysis and the traffic light data.
• We argue against a charge of recklessness, using the Supreme Court test of 15 October 2024.
• We conduct the defence at the hearing and lodge an appeal within fourteen days where needed.
• We assist you in the CBR procedure about your driving licence.

Summary

• Running a red light and causing serious injury or death is prosecuted under article 6 of the Road Traffic Act 1994, with maxima of 18 months (injury) and 3 years (death) for ordinary fault.
• For recklessness the maxima are 3 and 6 years, and they rise by half for aggravating circumstances such as alcohol, drugs or serious speeding; a driving disqualification of up to 5 years (10 for a repeat offence) is possible.
• Since the Supreme Court judgment of 15 October 2024, recklessness means extraordinarily careless conduct creating a very serious danger; conduct under article 5a counts as recklessness in any event.
• The victim can join the criminal case as an injured party under article 51f of the Code of Criminal Procedure; the criminal court then decides on the claim without court fees.
• The CBR can take its own measures against your licence, separately from the criminal court.

Frequently asked questions