For having started a fight at the wheel with a truck driver, on the A75, in disregard of safety rules, then having assaulted the latter, a 46-year-old driver found himself in court.
“Fast and furious” atmosphere, this July 12, 2023, on the A75, in the south-north direction. A little after Issoire, the driver of a Mini Cooper goes up the left lane, comes alongside a truck with a double trailer then stays alongside it, without overtaking it. The highway is crowded in these first weeks of the summer holidays.
The driver of the semi-trailer, not really understanding what the motorist is doing, lowers his speed to 50 km/h, so as to let him double. But the car also slows down and stays at the level of the heavy goods vehicle. Additional challenge, its driver flicks the steering wheel several times on its side.
The collision between two motorists in Volvic (Puy-de-Dôme) had degenerated: a man in police custody
He ends up accelerating but stays in the left lane. This time, the heavyweight, thanks to overtaking, finds itself behind him. And now the fighter in the Mini suddenly brakes, which leads to a collision, bumper to bumper, between the two vehicles.
The damage, fortunately, is only material. However, this duel, as disconcerting as it is dangerous, is still far from over. The truck driver invites the driver to go to the Authezat area to fill out a report. Once out of his cabin, he was insulted, threatened and punched several times in the head.
A locker already loaded
“It was he who tried to hit me, then what happened…” contests the motorist in court, where he must answer for endangering others and violence. To the police, this 46-year-old Puydômois, whose t-shirt reveals ample biceps, explained that he wanted to become a vigilante. The truck driver, according to him, was driving too close to a black Clio whose driver, according to him, was frightened.
With eighteen mentions in his record, partly for traffic offences, this defendant’s ability to give lessons in road safety perplexes the president of the hearing. “It’s stupid, I regret it, but I don’t beat up everyone either,” breathes the forty-year-old.
“I don’t know if he is aware of the seriousness of the facts, my client was traumatized.”
Ludovic Tiradon, lawyer for the truck driver (empty)
Anne-Claire Garraud, on the floor, takes pride in a clarification. “It is the driver who is judged and not the driver. It was not up to the former to act as road vigilantes by taking reckless risks.”
She wants eight months in prison with a two-year probationary suspension. The court is moving in this direction. The license of the forty-year-old driver is canceled. He is prohibited from ironing it for six months.
Olivier Choruszko
