Police: Truck in August fatal crash was speeding

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Examination of the tachograph readings has shown that the truck involved in an accident on August 14th that left six people dead was exceeding the speed limit at the moment when it struck a passenger car that was crossing the road from behind a warning "Give Way" triangle.
      The five passengers in the car were killed instantly and the driver died shortly afterwards in hospital.
      The accident occurred near Eno, in Eastern Finland.
     
The Northern Karelia Police reported on Thursday that the truck-trailer combination, which was carrying timber, had been travelling at 88km/hour on the major road as it approached the crossroads.
      When the driver began braking heavily to avoid the collision with the car crossing the road in front of him, the tachograph showed 87km/h.
      The speed limit in place on the main road immediately before the intersection was 60km/h, and on the minor road 80km/hour, although the driver of the car was obliged to give way to traffic on the main road, and by all accounts did not do so.
     
The car, a Seat Cordoba, was also registered to carry no more than five persons.
      According to the police, the driver of the car had consumed alcohol, but was not above the blood/alcohol threshold of 0.05%.
     
Police are continuing their investigations. The driver of the truck, who was not injured in the collision, is still suspected of endangerment of traffic safety and six counts of negligent homicide/involuntary manslaughter.
      The preliminary investigation, possibly leading to charges, will be completed in the next few weeks.
     
The accident was the worst in Finland in terms of loss of life since March 2004, when 22 coach passengers and the driver died in a head-on collision between a long-distance coach and a truck carrying bales of newsprint at Konginkangas, near Äänekoski.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Six dead in car-truck collision near Joensuu (16.8.2010)
  Fears that traffic accidents caused by young drivers are again on the increase (14.5.2010)

See also:
  July saw unwelcome spike in road accident fatalities (5.8.2010)

Helsingin Sanomat