A 53-year-old woman from Breda has been fined 500 euros for a fatal accident in Breda. The court in Breda ruled this on Thursday. In addition, she will receive a conditional driving ban of three months, which will only be enforced if she commits another offense.
The woman was driving on the Zwijnsbergensestraat in Breda on October 28, 2022. She was not speeding, was not on her phone and had not used alcohol or drugs. Yet she killed an 82-year-old man at a zebra crossing. She had not seen the man at all, even though there was a clear view.
And that is also the only thing the court blames the woman for. She did everything right, but in the dark she was apparently too busy with the right side of the street, where there were many leaves on that dark autumn evening. The court finds that the woman is responsible for the accident, but ‘any road user can commit this mistake in a moment of inattention’, the judgment states.
‘I really haven’t seen him’
While the woman looked carefully at the right side of the road, she did not see the 82-year-old man crossing the road from the left via a zebra crossing. The man had already crossed the first half of the road and was hit by the woman in the middle of the second half of the road.
“I really haven’t seen him,” the woman said during the hearing. She noticed that she had hit something, but did not see that it was a person until she got out. The man died shortly afterwards in hospital from his injuries.
The woman was very emotional in court. “I should have seen him,” she kept saying. She apologized to the victim’s family, with whom she has had extensive contact over the past year. And that family also hopes that the 53-year-old woman is doing well, even though she should have seen their father.
Fine is enough
The public prosecutor demanded 150 hours of community service, but the court found that too much. The court found a fine of 500 euros sufficient. Apart from the fact that the woman was not speeding and had not consumed alcohol, for example, she has a clean criminal record and she immediately started talking to the relatives. She also has a lot of regrets and the accident also has a major impact on her.
Two weeks ago, the justice department also demanded that the woman’s driver’s license should be suspended for a year if she commits another crime. However, the court also found that too much and set the conditional driving ban at three months.