As the Hungarian news portal hvg.hu describes, it has been revealed that the BMW driver – who caused an accident on the Croatian A4 highway at the toll-booth of Varazdin, causing severe injuries to a Hungarian family – was under the influence of drugs and medicines.
It is still under investigation whether the driver used his phone before the accident.
According to the Zagreb journal, Jutarnji List – the 35-year-old Croatian man drove much faster than the maximum speed limit when he swept away the Hungarian car that was waiting at the toll-booth. Based on estimations, instead of the maximum speed limit of 50 km/h, the BMW driver barreled with 150km/h when it hit the Hungarian Skoda that the family borrowed from a friend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugzdlavEcCM
The alcohol test showed immediately that he was not drunk; however, authorities are waiting for the results of blood and urine samples.
These revealed the presence of drugs and medicines in the man’s body.
The police are still waiting for the report of the phone service provider to see whether the driver used his phone before the accident.
The Croatian news portal Index.hr reported that the man had drug problems and he returned home from rehabilitation only two days before the accident, where he was treated because of drug addiction.
The sanatorium – where he was supposedly treated – could not verify that the man was their patient due to privacy rights.
Highway cameras clearly show that the Croatian man was driving irresponsibly before the accident. He exceeded the maximum speed limit and unpredictably overtook motorists on the road.
The accident happened on Thursday afternoon. The family car was slowing down at the toll-booth, when – according to the published recordings – the BMW driven by the 35-year-old Croatian man ran into them at full speed, without breaking.
The Hungarian car slammed into the concrete roadblocks and the stand of the toll-booth then spun on its axis and slammed into another stall and a Hungarian car waiting on the site. It took 45 minutes for firefighters to rescue the family from the wrecks; all the members were transported to the hospital in critical condition.
The seriously injured Hungarian family lives in Australia. The father is of Hungarian origin; he was born in Novi Sad, recently working as a tennis coach. The mother is from Croatia, the couple met each other in Australia. The father and the son have Hungarian nationality. The family travelled to Budapest to visit their relatives; they spent a few days in the capital; the next destination would have been Croatia where the mother’s relatives live.
A friend of the family said that fortunately, all the three injured members are out of danger.
On the Croatian motorways, accidents are very common during the summer season; Croatian journals are continuously publishing news about serious, often fatal crashes.