Failure to provide assistance in a medical emergency is a crime in Basel
It is one of the big news topics at the moment: Seven months ago, a man lay helplessly on the ground in a bank in Hessen (Germany). Four customers ignored him, CCTV footage revealed. Only hours later, a passer-by at least called the emergency services. On Monday, the four people who ignored him appeared in court.
The 84-year-old man had to stay in hospital for a few days after the incident. The four people who ignored the man faced criminal charges because of their failure to offer assistance and were on Monday found guilty in court. They have all been ordered to pay large fines. Two of them said that they thought the man was a homeless person who was asleep and they did not see any reason to offer assistance. The third person said that it was none of her business.
Emergency aid is essential
Looking at the following case, it is clear that emergency aid is an absolute necessity: A man is on his way home on Saturday after a night out. In the street where he lives in Gundeli, he encounters a young man lying in the ground, bleeding. The man on his way home cannot stand the sight of blood; he begins to feel ill, and continues on his way home without helping the injured person. The victim later dies of his injuries. Because of his failure to offerassistance, the man walked past will have criminal charges filed against him.
Although he was afraid and did not know how to deal with the person lying on the ground, the man would still have been able to call the emergency services. He is now facing a prison sentence of up to three years. Emergency help is therefore essential – even if you are unable to provide assistance yourself.
Car-friendly initiatives will not become popular votes
Basel-Stadt’s government is to make a decision on two initiatives launched by the Trade Association that aim to make cantonal law more car-friendly. The Grand Council approved the initiatives on Wednesday and handed them on to the executive powers.
The Trade Association of Basel wants to stem the loss of public parking spaces and reverse an initiative to reduce the amount of traffic, which was introduced by popular vote in 2010. The association says it wants to do this in order to end the conflicting traffic conditions in Basel.
The law initiative “Zämme fahre mir besser” (We drive better when we work together) wants to remove regulation from the environmental law. It states that the canton has to reduce the overall traffic performance by at least ten per cent by the year 2020.
Reversal of popular vote
The public had accepted this original regulation by popular vote in November 2010. The Green Alliance now challenged the constitutional compatibility of this new counter-initiative by the trade association because the demand for equal treatment of all road users nullifies the priority of traffic. Hans-Peter Wessels, head of construction and traffic, retorted that the Federal court strongly supports the majority rule in such cases. The Green motion was rejected and the initiative to delete the regulation was accepted with 81 Yes-votes to 11 No-votes. It was then handed over to the government.
Parking initiative
The second trade association initiative, called “Parkieren für alle Verkehrsteilnehmer” (Parking for all traffic members), also focuses on the environmental law. It plans to create an “adequate number of parking spaces for bicycles and cars”. For every loss of a parking space, a replacement should be found nearby.
The Social Democrats (SP) declared the idea “unworkable”. There is limited space in the city, they claim, adding thatas 200 metres of distance are needed between replacements, this would be impossible to implement.
The Green Alliance warned that the initiative would also limit the space available for streets where children can play and also recycling units. It should be put up for a popular vote immediately, the Alliance stated, but their motion was rejected with 79 votes to seven. The Swiss People’s Party (SVP) said that there are constantly new bicycle parking spaces on co-owned property.
The Green Liberals (GLP) talked about the constantly free spaces in car parks: The problem, they said, lies in the parking spaces on co-owned property, which are far too cheap and therefore not used enough. The party is calling for a “clever counter-proposal”. The Liberal Democrats (LDP) retorted that car parks do not seem to be available where they should be. Finally, the SVP reminded everyone that trade needs parking opportunities.
Demonstration with beds and couches on Marktplatz
An unusual demonstration took place on Marktplatz yesterday (Wednesday) with the use of household furniture to get the point across.
All of a sudden, there were no more mobile snack stalls on the cobbled square in front of the town hall, but furniture and house-moving boxes instead. In front of them stood a large banner with the inscription “Bald kay Dach meh überem Kopf?” (Soon no more roof over our heads?)
The tenants of buildings which are under threat of being demolished stood between the boxes. “We want to make people aware of our situation,” they said. Most of them were young people, but they said “there are also many elderly people and families living in the houses that would be affected by demolition.” For young tenants, moving somewhere else is less problematic than for pensioners. They now want to support each other.