The accident had cost the life of an octogenarian in Orne: a motorist responsible?

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The weather was fine, Sunday November 20, 2022, around 11 a.m., and the roadway was dry on the road which connects Rânes to Carrouges, the RD909, at a height of Saint-Martin-l’Aiguillonin Orne.

At the wheel of her Subaru Legacy, a 35-year-old mother from Argentan collided with a Citroën Nemo utility vehicle coming in front and on board which were two men: the 84-year-old driver and the son. of his partner, sixty-year-old.

No traffic offense identified

The shock was violent. The Nemo ended up in the neighboring meadow while the heavier Subaru remained on the road. Its driver escaped unharmed. In the utility vehicle, emergency services extricated two seriously injured people. Claude Guibout, the driver, suffering from multiple fractures, is deceased during his transfer to the hospital. His passenger also suffered several fractures, some of which caused him lifelong discomfort.

The thirty-year-old motorist was prosecuted for homicide and involuntary injury. She was tried by the Alençon criminal court on Thursday November 21.

The accident? The young woman says she doesn't remember anything. The checks carried out by the gendarmerie did not bring to light no offense likely to have played a role in the cause of the accident, on one side or the other. No presence of alcohol or drugs, no use of the telephone, no excessive speed and the seat belts were properly fastened.

Two years suspended sentence required

The single insurance expert – both vehicles were insured with the same company – considers that the most probable hypothesis is a slight offset from the Subaru to the left, in the path of the Citroën. The two vehicles actually collided from the front left corner and not head-on.

The prosecution considers the driver of the Subaru responsible of the accident and requires a sentence of two years suspended prison sentence. She also requests the cancellation of her driving license with a ban on retaking it for three months.

For the defense, Me Lori Helloco focuses her argument on the absence of an offense and the remaining doubts about the exclusive responsibility of her client in the occurrence of the collision. Proof that the Subaru would have encroached on the other lane is not formally provided by the expert. The fact that the Subaru remained on the road while the small utility vehicle was sent to the neighboring meadow can be explained by the difference in mass between the two vehicles: 1,600 kg for the Japanese car versus 1,100 kg for the other. .

Under deliberation

He recalls that the defendant's car had four permanent drive wheels, a safety factor which makes the hypothesis of a skid in the bend very unlikely, especially on dry roads and at authorized speeds. He concluded that it was an unfortunate combination of circumstances and requested that his client be released.

The case was put into deliberate au Thursday January 30, 2025.

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