“Deadly Blablacar Bus Crash: Driver’s Narcotic Use Exposes Legal Loopholes Between Belgium and France”

2023-04-27 14:03:34

The drama took place on April 10, 2022. A Blablacar bus driver from the Paris-Amsterdam line. After a stop in Lille, the bus driven by Bardat B., a 35-year-old Frenchman, deviates from its traffic lane without any involvement of an outside vehicle and hits a concrete barrier.

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Following the impact, the bus ended up on its side. That day, out of the thirty passengers on the bus, two people died. Loreleï, a 17-year-old young woman and a 29-year-old Colombian man. Ten other passengers will be seriously injured, some will have lifelong consequences.

Read also Horrible bus accident on our roads: Andres died a few days following visiting Rome with his girlfriend, the driver was on drugs

During the interrogation of the driver, Belgian justice learns that the man, already known for using narcotics while driving, was under the influence. The driver himself admits not remembering anything. Due to Ramadan, he had not eaten anything since 10 p.m. the day before, some bus passengers testified that they saw the driver fall asleep shortly before the accident.

Judged… in Belgium

If the man is actually in the middle of a trial in Belgium and stripped of his driving license here, it is not so in France. “The withdrawal of a license is only valid in the country where the offense was committed”, affirms master Nicolas Estienne, the Belgian lawyer of Agnès, the mother of the deceased girl questioned by our colleagues from “Figaro” . This situation scandalizes Agnès: “The driver who killed my daughter, already convicted of drug use, can drive as he sees fit in France, in Europe, except in Belgium. He may even be driving buses,” she told Le Figaro.

This driving ban might be extended to France but this implies contacts between the Belgian and French authorities, which does not seem to be the case according to Nicolas Estienne.

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