Trial in Feldkirch

Prison sentence after fatal traffic accident

The defendant bears a heavy burden of guilt.(Bild: chantal dorn, Krone KREATIV)

Driving too fast and drunk at the wheel: a 26-year-old driver killed a pedestrian on a safety path in Dornbirn. The trial was now pending at Feldkirch Regional Court.

On Thursday, the accused was sentenced to 15 months in prison for gross negligence manslaughter. On the evening of October 20, the previously blameless man got behind the wheel of his powerful sports car under the influence of alcohol and hit the gas - despite poor visibility and weather conditions. At the Haselstauden elementary school, he finally hit a 76-year-old pedestrian on the safety path at far too high a speed. The impact threw the woman against the windshield and then catapulted her ten meters over the roof of the car before she lay motionless on the asphalt. Despite immediate rescue efforts, the pensioner succumbed to her serious head injuries on the way to hospital.

I wouldn't actually have needed the car that evening. But I still felt able to drive.

Der Angeklagte vor Gericht

The 26-year-old fatality driver now has to live with the burden of having extinguished a human life due to his own recklessness. Not only is he now undergoing psychotherapy and has written a long letter to the bereaved to come to terms with the situation. Much sadder is the late realization of the accused during the trial: "I wouldn't have been dependent on the car at all. But I still felt able to drive."

He was also not distracted while driving. "I simply hadn't seen the woman." Motor vehicle expert Christian Wolf came to the conclusion in his traffic report that the driver must have been driving at between 59 and 62 km/h a few seconds before the collision and only applied the brakes after the collision. "If he had been driving at a maximum speed of 40 km/h, he would not have hit the pedestrian in the first place."

Expert witness Christian Wolf came to the conclusion: "If he had been driving at a maximum speed of 40 km/h, he would not have hit the pedestrian in the first place."(Bild: chantal dorn )

The - not yet final - sentence in detail: 15 months in prison, ten of which were suspended by Judge Alexander Wehinger. He awarded the surviving dependants a total of 400 euros.