Just not paying attention to a crossing cost a 70-year-old woman last year’s life in Etten-Leur. A man totally overlooked her and her husband (72) and drove them with his work bus. Three days later the woman died in the hospital, as it turned out on Tuesday in the court in Breda.
Freddie K. (56) from Etten-Leur rode that day at the beginning of the afternoon, as so often, about the Lokkerdreef on an industrial estate in Etten-Leur. At the intersection with the Pauvreweg he overlooked the 70 -year -old woman and the man of 72. He just drove on, despite the shark teeth, and drove the cycling couple from the side.
The man came off with a concussion and a crack in his skull, but his wife was much more serious. She died three days later in the hospital in Rotterdam.
Freddie was asked several times by the judges how he could have overlooked those cyclists. But Freddie doesn’t know. He was on the radio for a moment, but he had seen a car from the right. The cyclists from the left not. On images in the courtroom you can see how Freddie took the bend briefly and Pardoes rides on the two cyclists.
He should have been more careful, recognized Freddie. He kept it on a kind of shared debt. The cyclists did not hear on the road at that location, but on the compulsory cycle path. Instead of crossing the intersection, they should have crossed to the cycle path across the street. Apparently many cyclists skip that exit, because the cycle path stops after a few hundred meters and you have to cross again.
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The public prosecutor thought that Freddie should have seen the two cyclists, even if they were not allowed to drive there. He was distracted by something and did not see them, did not adjust his speed and just drove the intersection. She finds him responsible, even though Freddie did not intend to drive someone dead. He also finds it terrible and does not get those images from his retina.
The officer demanded a 160 -hour community service and a conditional one year old driving. The decision in this case is on October 14.