DRAMATIC: 12 tonnes of crushed stone were strewn after the accident in the Søråstunnel this summer. Now the driver who drove into the truck has been sentenced. Photo: the police
First she stole a car, then she drove – without a driver’s license and at high speed into the Sørås tunnel and crashed with a truck. – A stupid idea, she admits in court.
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Now the female driver in her 20s has been sentenced to 45 days in prison in Hordaland District Court, writes BT.
It was the newspaper BA who first wrote about the verdict.
It could have been fatal.
There were enormous forces at work when the 26-tonne lorry loaded with crushed stone was hit from behind and overturned before slamming into the tunnel wall.
“That the accident did not lead to loss of life or serious personal injury is pure luck,” the judgment states.
Both drivers were sent to hospital, but managed.
The accident happened on July 4. Early in the morning, the woman in her 20s stole a car in Fana and drove towards the center of Bergen.
Why she took the car, the woman cannot give any explanation in court last week.
But said it was “a stupid idea”.
She also didn’t know how fast she was driving. But admitted that it was “much too fast”.
There were two lanes in the same direction of travel in the tunnel and the speed limit was 80 km/h. at the scene of the accident. The court saw a video of the woman driving at high speed.
But the woman did not see the truck, she said.
The court finds it hard to believe. Especially since the lorry was in front of her in the roadway.
The fact that the woman has never had a valid driver’s license was also aggravating, the judges thought.
When the car hits the lorry, it is thrown into the tunnel wall and stops first a few hundred meters further in.
The lorry driver did not understand what was happening. He suddenly felt an abnormal movement in the truck and was steering at the same time as he heard scraping noises, he explained in court. He saw a car along the tunnel wall through the side window, and thought he had to stop the truck.
Then he remembers the wall coming towards him. Then nothing.
He says that he started as a professional driver at the age of 18 and has over 20 years’ experience in the profession.
At the hospital it turned out that he had escaped with broken ribs and a cut above his eye.
Not careful
The woman herself got out of the tunnel on foot via an emergency exit with chest pains. That someone else was involved in the accident did not occur to her, she said in court.
The court believes that it has been proven beyond doubt that the defendant was not sufficiently considerate, attentive and careful.
The judgment can be appealed within two weeks and is therefore not legally binding.
– We have not yet decided whether we want to appeal the verdict, says the woman’s defender Bertil CH Rønnestad to VG.
Published:
Published: 19.12.23 at 20:18
Updated: 19.12.23 at 21:14
2023-12-19 19:18:50
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