Friend died in crash – alcoholic driver (18) must now warn learner drivers

On the fateful April 30, 2023, the locals and their friends celebrated in the Tamsweg: first at a birthday party, then at the disco. With almost 1.8 per mille, he wanted to drive his three friends home at night. The now 18-year-old can’t remember exactly what happened next. “I’m so sorry,” he said in the packed courtroom of the regional court on Tuesday. He still has all this in the back of his mind and has been seeing a psychotherapist ever since.

That night, with more than 80 on the speedometer at 30 km/h, he lost control of his car in a long bend and crashed into a cemetery wall. The teenager sitting behind him was not wearing a seat belt and died at the scene. Two other teenage passengers were injured. The driver had only had his probationary license for two months.

A reduction in sentence is possible after ten presentations
But no one during the trial could say why the suspect pressed the gas like that. But everyone knew he had been drinking: “I already asked if he could still drive,” one of the young people told the judge. The Public Prosecution Service demanded a severe sentence. Judge Verena Wegleiter agreed and, despite his clean criminal record and confession, imposed a one-month unconditional prison sentence and a further six months’ probation.

With one big but: she proposed a project to the 18-year-old in which he would give lectures at driving schools and warn other driving students about such serious drunk driving. The judge decided that he must complete ten such readings by 2025 as part of his instructions: if he fulfills his sentence, the prison sentence could be suspended, she stated in the reasons for the verdict. He accepted the judgment and the instruction.