A 32-year-old driver was sentenced to two years in prison, this Friday, November 15, by the criminal court of Albertville (Savoie). In 2022, he caused the death of two highway officers in an accident that occurred seconds after he was texting while driving.
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He had sent text messages while driving at 110 km/h on the roads of Savoie. A motorist was sentenced this Friday, November 15, to a two-year suspended prison sentence by the Albertville criminal court for fatally hitting two road officials who were then responding.
Found guilty of manslaughter by a driver, he also saw his license canceled with a ban on retaking it for three years. “I should never have used that phone.”the 32-year-old man declared in court a month ago, admitting his responsibility. He will not appeal, according to his lawyer.
On March 2, 2022, on the N90 national road, a mobile pruning site from the Interdepartmental Roads Directorate had just been installed, with appropriate signage, on the portion of the road where the tragedy took place, between Moûtiers and Albertville .
At 12:05 p.m., a first material collision took place with another vehicle, before the fatal collision at 12:15 p.m. and 39 seconds. At 12:14 p.m. and 51 seconds, the driver in question had just sent two text messages, while he was driving at 110 km/h in the right lane, where the construction site's signaling trailer was stopped.
“I didn’t see the warning, I wasn’t paying attention”admitted the defendant to the bar, delivery driver at the time of the facts. After sending his text messages, he had “raised your head” before swerving to the left but unable to avoid the two agents.
The investigation showed that the agents had respected all the safety rules during their intervention, even if one of the two victims was, according to a blood test, under the influence of cannabis. The defendant had not consumed alcohol or drugs before the incident. His criminal record was clean but he had already been fined for traffic violations.
Three years of suspended prison sentence had been requested by the public prosecutor of Albertville, Anne Gâches, during the hearing last October. “If we did a survey on who has never used their phone while driving, I think we would be surprised“, nuanced the prosecutor, who also requested the cancellation of the driving license and the ban on retaking it for twelve months.
