The almost 38-year-old Romanian GC has to answer to court today for causing a fatal accident three years ago on the N240 near Middenmeer. The man is suspected of having driven onto the Medemblikkerweg (N240) without looking closely, causing him to collide with a car. Two Romanian migrant workers died in the accident and seven others were injured.
On 26 May 2020, suspect C. drove into a company bus with eight passengers at the intersection of Medemblikkerweg (N240) and Wagenpad in Middenmeer. The van came from the Wagenpad, the car drove on the N240 towards Wieringerwerf. The Public Prosecution Service suspects that the driver of the van drove at high speed from the Wagenpad onto the N240, so that a 23-year-old Polish driver could not avoid him.
The two fatalities were a 44-year-old and a 25-year-old man from Romania. They were thrown from the van upon impact. There were a total of eight passengers in the van, all of whom were migrant workers working in horticulture. The other occupants of the van, including the driver, and the driver were also injured. One of them was in critical condition, but eventually survived the accident.
The fact that it took more than three years before the driver could be prosecuted, according to the Public Prosecution Service, has to do with ‘the complexity of the investigation’, she says to the Noordhollands Dagblad. “Including the view of the driver at the time of the accident. But also with (the mapping of) the multitude of injured parties, mainly outside the Netherlands.” The man would not have been drunk behind the wheel.
N240 tackled
After the fatal accident, it was announced that the N240, which was known to be life-threatening, would be addressed. The road would invite speeding. Paving along the verge, extra lighting and rumble strips made the road safer. A year and a half later, Member of Parliament Wim Hoogervorst concluded after yet another fatal accident that there had been too little had happened. On that announced the province announced even more measures last February.