Fatal speeding accident: imprisonment for 18-year-old Salzburg resident
At the end of February, the apprentice crashed into a bridge pillar in a borrowed car in the city of Salzburg, and a 17-year-old passenger died. The judgment is not final.
17-year-old dies in an accident on Vogelweiderstraße
In the city of Salzburg there was a fatal traffic accident on Sunday night in Vogelweiderstraße. A 17-year-old died from serious injuries.
Speeders traveling at up to 128 km / h
Back then, the driver had lost control of the car at a significantly excessive speed in a left turn. According to the motor vehicle expert, the speed of the collision with the concrete pillar was between 120 and 128 kilometers per hour instead of the prescribed 50 km / h. In the nightly accident, a 17-year-old was killed in the back seat, a 15-year-old, also transported in the rear of the accident vehicle, left the scene of the accident injured in shock. The defendant’s 17-year-old passenger and partner was seriously injured and was in a coma for a week.
Young people in the back seat not buckled up
A forensic examination did not reveal any prohibited substances in the blood of the accused. Since the suspicion had initially fallen on the passenger who had fled in shock, the actual driver immediately identified himself as the main responsible to the officer investigating the scene of the accident. At the first interrogation, the young man also admitted the clearly excessive speed. The adolescents caused on the back seat were not buckled up in the accident, but according to the court report, the fatal injuries of the deceased could not be adequately justified.
Salzburg people commemorate young accident victims
Sadness, dismay and horror are still great three days after the death crash in the city of Salzburg. Family members and friends of the deceased 17-year-old have a small …
Defendant pleads guilty
Shortly after the start of the trial, the defendant pleaded fully guilty, expressed his “infinite regret” and apologized to those present. In a “complete overestimation of his driving skills and abilities”, the young man’s defense lawyer pinpointed the main cause of the accident and emphasized that his client had “not received any negative attention in any way” until then. As a mitigating circumstance, the defense attorney first mentioned the young age of the defendant, who at the time of the accident had only reached the age of 18 a few weeks ago. A threat to the training of the vocational student, whose apprenticeship examination is imminent, as well as the injuries that he had suffered himself, prompted the defense attorney to request “a mild verdict”.
Tense mood in the courtroom
The lawyer of one of the injured young men left the tense atmosphere in the courtroom by stating that he had seldom seen such an “audience waiting with excitement”. In reaching the verdict, he wanted the accused’s “youthful recklessness and arrogance” to be taken into account. Because of the “affinity to motor vehicles” that is inherent in the driver of an accident as a mechanic, he must know “what a motor vehicle can do and what it has done”. The representative of the deceased’s parents demanded that one must go “where it hurts” in order to treat the matter with the “necessary respect”.
Partial pain compensation and symbolic grief payment
The presiding judge awarded the then-year-old injured passenger a partial compensation, the parents of the deceased temporarily a symbolic mourning fee and the assumption of the funeral costs by the convicted person. He justified his judgment with general preventive considerations in view of an accumulation of similar traffic offenses in the recent past. Another complication is the extreme speeding with an almost fully occupied vehicle. The age of the accused, his integrity and the fact that he and his partner were injured in the accident could be regarded as mitigating. Nonetheless, it was a “special exceptional case” that was to be foreseen accordingly. The judgment is not final, the prosecution and defense reserved the right to appeal.
(Source: APA)