It was very busy on May 12, 2023 on the Fluitenbergseweg in Fluitenberg. There was a coming and going of parents with children for a vaccination in De Schildhoeve. Most cars were stuck in a traffic jam. Traffic controllers guided visitors to and from the GGD location. A 78-year-old suspect did not have to be there, but wanted to pass by.
Despite a traffic controller’s stop sign, the man drove past the traffic jam, against oncoming traffic. A second controller also gave a stop sign. The driver then rolled down the window and shouted that he had to pass. The controller had to move out of the way if he wanted to avoid a collision.
The traffic controller signaled to the man to turn around. The driver did not do that. He accelerated and drove the controller into his knee. He collapsed through his legs and hit the hood with his hands. The motorist drove back onto the road via the cycle path and disappeared. His license plate number was noted.
The man was charged with attempted serious assault and driving away after an accident. The seventy-something showed remorse and later returned to the scene of the incident. The man denied during the court hearing that he had hit the traffic controller, let alone on purpose. He had not gotten out, the man said. Through the open window he had said that he had to continue. Because the controller did not allow this, he wanted to pull his car aside to discuss with the man.
The traffic controller then punched a dent in the hood with his fist. He drove on angrily. The man later reported the vandalism. “I didn’t get out,” the driver said. Several witness statements gave a similar picture. “According to many, you have misbehaved,” the judge said.
The public prosecutor found attempted serious assault proven. “It is not your fault that things did not end more seriously,” the prosecutor said. He demanded eighty hours of community service, of which forty hours were conditional, and a conditional driving ban of six months.
The suspect accelerated from a standstill. The chance of seriously injuring someone is then much smaller, the judge finds. She also took into account the man’s clean criminal record, despite his older age. She did not impose a driving ban on the man, he needs his car as an informal caregiver. However, he must pay the victim 1,000 euros.