According to the Public Prosecution Service (OM), a 53-year-old man from Zuidlaren is guilty of a serious accident on November 26, 2021 in Annerveenschekanaal, because he allegedly did not clean the windscreen of his car sufficiently. The Public Prosecution Service demanded a fine of 1,000 euros and a conditional driving ban of three months against the motorist.
The man drove on the narrow road of the Eppinge, towards the Molenwijk. It was raining and he was blinded by an oncoming car, the man told the judge. As a result, he completely overlooked the woman with her dog. He also did not see the lighting that the dog was wearing. That was due to the condensation on the windshield, the prosecutor said. The police quickly arrived and took pictures of the fogged window.
Those photos show that precisely the spot that was not clean coincided with where the victim was walking. The man denied that his forward was fogged up. “Bullshit. Top at most, the rest was clean,” said the man. The condensation was caused by the door being left open after the accident. According to the police, that was not possible. The Zuidlaarder insisted that the oncoming traffic had blinded him.
“That could be. Due to the condensation, the light spreads and can dazzle,” said the public prosecutor. The prosecutor found that the Zuidlaarder had not taken sufficient precautions to be able to safely take to the road by car. That “considerable carelessness” left someone seriously injured, the prosecutor said.
The lawyer of the Zuidlaarder thought that the motorist could not be blamed. “It has not been established that the window was not clean, the photos were taken after the accident, so the situation could have been different again. The motorist was blinded, he could not see the woman,” said the counsel.
The court will rule in two weeks.