Common fault in a fatal accident in Alba: The pedestrian, drunk and walking in a zig-zag, and the driver did not reduce speed. What happened

A driver was recently convicted by the Câmpeni Court for manslaughter. He was involved in a fatal accident near Scărișoara.

The accident happened in 2020, three days before Christmas, on December 22. A sentence in the first instance came on March 29, 2024.

Following the expert examination, the magistrates established that both the victim, the pedestrian who died in the accident, and the driver are guilty.

The peyton because he didn’t have reflective clothes on and was walking down the street. And the driver was guilty for not slowing down, even though he saw the pedestrian and was alerted by a passenger in the car to his presence.

What the magistrates noted

The accident happened on December 22, 2020, at 5:30 p.m. On DN 75, near Scărișoara,” the 52-year-old driver hit the 67-year-old victim, who was under the influence of alcoholic beverages, a pedestrian who was walking along the road, in the area of ​​the road’s axis , without reducing the speed of travel and stopping the car, the defendant swerved to the left to avoid the victim, but did not keep a sufficient lateral distance from her and hit her with the right front side, projecting her off the roadway , the latter suffering serious bodily injuries that later led to death”, noted the judges.

A passenger in the car, a witness in court

A passenger in the car, the driver’s daughter was a witness in the trial.

She said that the street was not publicly lit, it was towards evening and that she saw the victim only by the light of the headlights. He also did not see that the victim had any light source, or the reflective vest.

” Before the impact between the car driven by her father and the person on the side of the road, he noticed that she was moving in a zig-zag manner, which made him suspect that she might be drunk, an aspect he reported to his father, to be careful,” said the witness.

The pedestrian and the driver are at fault

Magistrates concluded that both the pedestrian and the driver could have avoided the accident.

Thus, the pedestrian could avoid the accident if, in night conditions, he wore reflective equipment and moved outside the carriageway on the shoulder on the left side in his direction of travel,

At the same time, the driver could avoid the accident if, at the moment he noticed the presence of the pedestrian on the road, he reduced the speed until the car stopped, the judges noted.

Court decision

The magistrates of Câmpeni found the driver partially guilty for the road accident. As a result, they sentenced him to two years in prison, suspended, for committing the crime of manslaughter.

He was also ordered to do 60 days of community service.

At the moment, the decision of the Câmpeni Court is not final and can be appealed.