A 53-year-old motorcyclist from Borger has been sentenced to a fine of 500 euros by the subdistrict court in Leeuwarden. The man caused a fatal accident on June 25 last year.
At the time, the motorcyclist overtook a cyclist on the right on the Freerk Faberweg near the Frisian Parrega, near Workum. While passing, the two men hit each other, causing the cyclist to fall. The motorcyclist also fell a short distance away. The victim, a 68-year-old resident of the municipality of Súdwest-Fryslân, later died in the UMCG in Groningen.
The suspect rode with another motorcyclist on the narrow concrete road. When he wanted to overtake the victim on the left, the man would have made a sudden movement to the left. The motorcyclist stated that he had no choice but to overtake the cyclist on the right. He made that decision in a split second. The moment he drove next to the cyclist, they touched each other.
According to the Drent it was too late to brake. He also gave the same answer to the question of the victim’s wife why he had not sounded the horn. “The moment he went left, I was almost wrong,” the man replied.
De Drent has put the engine aside. To process everything he had help from a psychologist. “I never wanted this either,” he said emotionally.
In a victim statement, the wife expressed the consequences of the fatal accident for her and her children. There was also a reproach in the statement: “Motorcycles do not belong on narrow roads.”
Cases submitted to the subdistrict court do not involve an intentional offense; there is no crime involved. According to the prosecutor, the suspect had made a traffic error. “He started driving to the right of the victim and that is simply not allowed.”
The officer realized that a punishment could in no way do justice to the dramatic consequences. She demanded a fine of 500 euros. The judge accepted the claim.