The driver who fatally hit a 27-year-old woman on a bike ride in Poznań has received a final verdict. The court sentenced Aliaksandr S. to five years and four months in prison. The man was under the influence of drugs at the time of the incident.
A tragic accident occurred on February 9 last year on Dąbrowskiego Street in Poznań. It was then, in the evening, in the area of the Botanical Garden, on a marked pedestrian crossing with a bicycle path, 27-year-old Aleksandra was hit by a car. Despite resuscitation, the woman could not be saved.
The police then detained Aliaksandr S., the driver of the car, who provided passenger transport services via the app. He was sober, but his behavior aroused the police's suspicions and they decided to conduct a blood test. The result turned out to be positive.
According to investigators, the man was under the influence of marijuana, which corresponded to the presence of over half a per mille of alcohol in his blood.
The prosecutor's office charged the 35-year-old with two offences. The first is causing a fatal accident, and the second is driving under the influence of drugs. The man partially admitted his guilt in court. He only denied that he got behind the wheel of a car under the influence of drugs. He argued that he smoked marijuana over the weekend, and only occasionally reached for it. However, he noted that he lived in a hostel where “everyone smokes and drinks”.
First-instance sentence: six years and six months of imprisonment
Exactly one year after the tragic accident, in February this year, the District Court of Poznań-Grunwald and Jeżyce in Poznań issued a non-final judgment in this case. The court found 35-year-old Aliaksandr S. guilty of the acts he was charged with and imposed on him a combined sentence of six years and six months of imprisonment.
The court also imposed a penal measure on the accused in the form of a lifetime ban on driving any motor vehicles. It also awarded compensation to the deceased's relatives in the amount of PLN 30,000 each – a total of PLN 150,000. In addition, the court imposed a penal measure on the accused in the form of a cash benefit in the amount of PLN 5,000 to the Fund for Aid to Victims and Post-Penitentiary Aid. Both the accused's defense attorney and the attorney for the auxiliary prosecutors filed appeals against this ruling to the court of second instance.
Final judgment lower
On Thursday, the District Court in Poznań heard the case and, after deliberating, issued a final judgment, reducing the total sentence for Aliaksandr S. to five years and four months of imprisonment.
In issuing the ruling, the court changed the description of the act charged against the accused. The court indicated that the accused intentionally violated the principle of safety in land traffic by failing to maintain a safe speed and, being under the influence of an intoxicant and due to the lack of proper observation of the driving area, he unintentionally caused road accident resulting in Aleksandra's death, and – as the court noted – “the injured party contributed significantly to the accident by not exercising due caution when entering the bicycle crossing.”
In the remaining scope, the court upheld the judgment of the court of first instance.
“Driver rammed cyclist”
In the justification of the judgment, Judge Sławomir Jęksa referred, among other things, to the Road Traffic Code and indicated that although a pedestrian entering a pedestrian crossing has priority over a vehicle, cyclists approaching a bicycle crossing do not have such priority. He pointed out that, in accordance with Article 27 of the Road Traffic Code, cyclists have priority on a crossing only when they are already on it. – There is no analogous reservation, as in the case of pedestrian traffic, that a cyclist entering a bicycle crossing already has the right of way at that moment. Such a provision, of course, is worded slightly differently in relation to pedestrian traffic entering a pedestrian crossing (…) The essence of the matter is that a cyclist has the right of way when they are on a bicycle crossing, but before they get on the crossing, they must enter the crossing – explained the judge.
The judge stressed that there was no doubt that the accused was under the influence of drugs at the time of the incident and was driving too fast, and that the mere fact of approaching a pedestrian crossing and a bicycle crossing should have required him to slow down and exercise particular caution.
He also stated that if the cyclist, when deciding to cross the road, had looked to the left, “she would have come to the same, only possible conclusion, that she should not have entered the road at that moment, because it would inevitably lead to a collision between the two vehicles”. – The driver rammed the cyclist without having the possibility of taking any reaction – besides, he did not take any reaction, there was no braking of the car. The guilt of the accused is of course great and serious, it is established beyond any doubt – the judge noted. Attorney Andrzej Jarosław Reichelt, representative of Aleksandra's family, auxiliary prosecutors, told the media after the verdict was announced that he would apply to the court for a written justification of the verdict. He indicated that this case also shows “how bad the current traffic law in Poland and road law is”. He also expressed hope that this case and the tragedy of the injured family will encourage reflection and changes in order to equalize the protection of pedestrians and cyclists.
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