Fatal Accident in Burgenland: Drunk Driver Received Partially Suspended Sentence

A 22-year-old was sentenced to 15 months in prison, ten of which are suspended, on Monday at the Eisenstadt Regional Court following a fatal accident. The young man had veered into the oncoming lane in Oberwart in August 2024 on his way home from a festival with a blood alcohol level of 1.89 per mille and driving at 157 instead of the permitted 100 km/h, where he crashed into the car of a 48-year-old Hungarian woman who died in the accident. The verdict is not yet legally binding.

Accident in August

The Eisenstadt public prosecutor's office accused the defendant of grossly negligent homicide and negligent bodily harm. Two friends who were in the car with him were partially seriously injured in the accident, as was the driver of the vehicle driving behind the 48-year-old and the 22-year-old himself. He pleaded guilty in court and apologized to the relatives of the deceased.

Why he got behind the wheel that evening, he could no longer say, the young man stated in court. He had actually planned to sleep at a friend's house or take a taxi and had even moved his car while sober to leave it parked overnight. In the early morning hours, a friend asked him if he could drive him home, and he apparently said yes "out of recklessness." "I thought I could still make it," said the 22-year-old. He explained that he drove unbraked into oncoming traffic in a left curve by saying, "I fell asleep and pressed the gas pedal while doing so."

Partially Suspended Sentence

The judge justified the partially suspended sentence - the 22-year-old must serve five months - with "special and general preventive reasons." A completely suspended sentence would not be an "adequate warning signal" in her view.

(APA/Red)

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