Traffic in Costa Rica is bad under normal conditions in the majority of the Metropolitan Area every day and especially during peak hours; whenever there is a minor accident it gets worse, and in cases of severe accidents where someone tragically dies the streets collapse for hours.

Part of the problem is that when someone dies as a result of a car accident the body cannot be removed without the presence of a judge or coroner who must arrive at the scene to run a report on the situation, take notes on the scene found, etc. Unfortunately this generally takes hours which causes of course, distress to the family of the victims, and also hours of traffic jams.

In the past few weeks two fatal accidents have generated complete chaos in the main highways; the last one was an accident that occurred at around 12:47 a.m. on Thursday, and which was still causing traffic jams at 7 a.m. because the coroner arrived at the scene hours later.

Generally the ambulance and rescue bodies arrive first, they notify the Judiciary Police for the agents to arrive at the scene and work the scene, then the communication is sent to the coroner and public prosecutor and they have to show up at the scene, however, if they are in the middle of another case or handling other work matters they run behind.

Walter Espinoza, director of the Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) considers that the presence of a judge offers little value “If the OIJ had the possibility of carrying out the work independently it would evidently speed up the process and would also satisfy the public interests”.

Mario Calderon, director of the Transit Police, also admitted it would be ideal to find an alternative procedure for the removal of the bodies, considering how this affects everyone that uses the affected roads.

Even though this has been a topic of discussion several times between the respective authorities, no agreement has been reached.