A man has been sentenced, in a non-final ruling, to three years in prison for negligently causing a fatal road accident after crashing into another vehicle at the Vágóhíd Street overpass in Debrecen in 2023 at the age of 19, the spokesperson of the Debrecen Regional Court announced.
According to Dénes Dobó, the driver has also been banned from driving for four years and two months, and may be eligible for parole after serving two-thirds of his sentence. The ruling states that in the early hours of 7 January 2023, the then 19-year-old was driving in Debrecen with a passenger beside him, and both were wearing seat belts.
On the railway overpass on Vágóhíd Street, where the maximum permitted speed is 50 km/h, the defendant was driving at 85–90 km/h. Due to speeding and a driving error stemming from his inexperience, he crossed the solid center line on a right-hand curve and entered the opposite lane, where the front left side of his car collided with a vehicle that was lawfully approaching from the opposite direction.
As a result of the impact, the driver’s seat of the oncoming car was torn from its place despite the seat belt being fastened, and fell onto the roadway together with the victim. The 21-year-old driver of the other vehicle died at the scene. The defendant and his passenger sustained minor injuries that healed within eight days. The spokesperson noted that the ruling is not final: the prosecutor accepted the decision, while the defendant appealed for acquittal, and his defense counsel appealed primarily for acquittal and alternatively for a reduced sentence.
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