A huge blow put an end to the life of the 23-year-old Zander on October 30, 2022. He crossed the Lunetstraat in Breda at a quarter past four at night and was scooped by a taxi van. The next morning he died in the hospital in Tilburg.
The now 51-year-old taxi driver Kalin B. from Etten-Leur had to explain on Wednesday, almost three years after the fatal accident, in the court in Breda. But that was a bit difficult. He did not deny that he drove Zander to death, but tried to argue freely.
“I haven’t seen the cyclist at all.”
“It’s terrible,” he said immediately. “But in my experience I didn’t drive too fast and I had the green light. I didn’t see the cyclist at all.”
But that experience of Kalin was very strongly contradicted by the facts. The taxi driver rode that fall night from the NAC stadium at a speed of between 90 and 100 kilometers per hour across Lunetstraat, according to research and not 50 to 60, as he had previously told the police. Before that he also drove too fast on the A16 and the Backer and Ruebweg. When he drove under the track towards the center, he first drove through red light on the intersection with the Slingerweg.
A little further on he also drove 100 when he approached the intersection with the Meidoornstraat, where Zander had just received the green light to cross. The red light for Kalin B. was already on red for more than a minute. Yet the taxi driver rushed through and scooped the cycling Zander.
“You don’t accidentally drive 100.”
That it had no chance to survive the collision was evident from camera images shown in the courtroom. It could be seen how incredibly hard Zander was scooped. The taxi bus only stopped after a hundred meters.
The mother, brother and sister told in their right to speak that their lives will never be the same again and that they are very bad at Kalin. “I don’t use the word accident either. You don’t accidentally drive 100. That is a conscious choice,” said Zander’s older brother.
And the public prosecutor joined that. “Not seeing five red traffic lights and driving so fast, you don’t accidentally do that by accident. Normally I say that an accident is in a small corner, but that is not the case here,” he said. “Kalin B. has driven recklessly and deliberately took great risks. He is a professional driver and has ignored the rules. The death of Zander is the consequence of his actions.”
“Do you have another taxi driver with a hurry.”
“When I first saw the case, my response was: if you have another taxi driver with a hurry. It seemed like a chance calculation: if I don’t see a cyclist, I can quickly go on to my next ride. He drove through almost twice the allowed speed under the track and ignored a forest on red lights.”
The public prosecutor therefore demanded 20 months in prison and Kalin B. should not drive for 44 months as far as he is concerned. According to B.’s lawyer, the suspect is to blame for the accident, but it is not possible to prove recklessness. The lawyer therefore argued for a maximum of community service.
The decision in this case is on 3 September.
