“Driver Found Guilty of Manslaughter in Fatal Cycling Accident in Gironde, France”

It was with his head sunk into his shoulders that a man advanced to the bar of the court in Bordeaux (Gironde), this Monday, April 24, 2023.

He appeared before the judges to manslaughter caused by a vehicle. He was found guilty by the court with a sentence of 24 months imprisonment with a five-year reprieve.

The victim’s family marked Thursday, May 20, 2021 with a black cross. And for good reason, around 7:20 a.m., a 61-year-old man in his vehicle engages on the axis of the D116 in Bommes (Gironde) at a place called “Le Sourd-Est”.

A few hundred meters further, the driver who wanted to turn left to join the D109, and therefore cross the road, collided head-on with a cyclist coming from opposite.

A father of two children

A violent frontal impact which propelled the victim, Guillaume, a 41-year-old cyclist, over several tens of meters.

The firefighters and the SMUR were quickly dispatched to the spot. But the victim, in cardiac arrest, could not be resuscitated despite attempts by the emergency services.

The cyclist, domiciled in Langon, was the father of a 10-year-old girl and of a two and a half month old baby.

The driver did not see the bike

A strong emotion was present during this hearing. The volume of the voices was low, bordering on a whisper, as the pain was palpable in the room.

The answers were short and hardly audible. Bruised, the defendant did not speak much, words failed him to explain what happened this Thursday, May 20, 2021. On several occasions, he repeated “not having seen the bike”.

The investigation entrusted to the gendarmerie revealed that two factors could have caused this accident. First the vitesse. The zone was limited to 30 km/h, but according to the investigators “in view of the impact of the accident, the driver was driving more around 70 km/h”. And secondly, a lane change has been made without observation on what could happen from the right.

No traces of alcohol or drugs was found in the body of the 61-year-old man (at the time of the events). The latter has no mention in the criminal record, and has never had his license suspended for any fact.

“You Killed Him”

A few family members of the deceased wanted to speak to the driver. Faced with the judges, Guillaume’s companion expressed her pain, which is still strong, two years after the accident.

She drew the portrait of her companion: a man who loved nature, always cycling, a loving dad close to his children, full of life with many projects in mind, including the purchase of a house and a wedding which should have taken place in 2022.

“How could he not see Guillaume?” is the question that the companion still asks herself today, and that she asks the driver.

She then gave a moving testimony to the judges:

It is always said that the first years of a young mother are the most beautiful moments, and well you stole my first moments of life with my two and a half month old baby and his dad, you killed him.