Driver in court

Risky drive cost lives

The car crashed into an impact absorber in the tunnel(Bild: Lauber/laumat.at Matthias)

An 18-year-old boy from Pasching died shortly before Christmas after a fatal accident in the Bindermichl tunnel in Linz. The 22-year-old driver - who had crashed into an impact absorber - was now on trial and was convicted of gross negligence manslaughter. 

On November 23, 2023, a 21-year-old from Pasching was driving too fast and too risky in the Bindermichl Tunnel in Linz in the direction of Freistadt. With fatal consequences: Shortly before midnight, the young man raced over a barrier line without reducing his speed and subsequently crashed into an impact absorber that separates the third lane of the main carriageway and the Muldenstraße exit.

Deceased eight days after the accident
One of his passengers - a Russian (19) living in Linz, who was sitting in the back seat behind the driver - was so seriously injured in the crash that he died eight days later at the Kepler University Hospital in Linz. Another passenger, a 16-year-old boy from Pasching, was uninjured at the time. The driver - who is now 22 years old - now had to answer to the Linz Regional Court for the serious accident resulting in death. The public prosecutor accused the young man of "grossly negligent homicide" and he was facing up to three years in prison. At the trial before a single judge in Linz, a video was also shown that had been recorded by one of the young lads at the moment of the fatal accident.

However, as the man from Pasching confessed in full at the trial and had a clean criminal record, the sentence was not quite as severe. The sentence was 12 months in prison, three of which were unconditional and the rest conditional. However, the verdict against the 22-year-old is not yet final.