Ralph Donghi (text and photos)
It’s almost 14 years since Lorena W.* († 21) died in one of the worst speeding accidents in Switzerland. On November 8th, 2008, three young men competed in a race in Schönenwerd SO. The front racer (18) in the black Audi finally slammed into the correctly turning red Golf in town at over 100 km/h, in which Lorena was sitting.
Her mother Brigitte W.* (57) then not only endured the lengthy criminal proceedings against the speeders, but also fought with other relatives of speeder victims for a stricter law. With success: as part of the “Via sicura” traffic safety package, the speeding item was introduced in 2013. This is to punish excess speed more severely.
Not necessarily a year in jail
But recently, after the National Council, the Council of States also decided that the minimum penalties for speeders should be reduced. This means, among other things, that speeders will no longer necessarily be sentenced to imprisonment for at least one year. Depending on the case and the discretion of the judge, pure fines are also possible again.
“I almost can’t believe it,” says Brigitte W. to Blick. “You’ve been fighting for something for years, and now everything that was once enshrined in law and improved is just thrown away. That only makes things worse!”
The racers showed no remorse
Brigitte W.’s ordeal began on the day her daughter died. “I found out about Lorena’s death from the police at home about two hours after she was killed,” she says. “It was a shock.” You couldn’t really understand it for a long time. “It’s a day you’ll never forget. All of life changes.”
The criminal proceedings in particular were “a difficult time” for Brigitte W., as she says. “Because you never rest.” She couldn’t process Lorena’s death “because it was a ten-year process”. The racers showed no remorse.
Mother thinks of Lorena every day
It was particularly painful, according to Brigitte W.: “The racers kept pushing the verdicts.” Up to federal court. In the end, the two co-accused each received a year in prison, the main accused six years.
Today, all three racers have long been free again and some are driving cars again. “It’s not okay that the guilty can do what they want,” says Brigitte W. Lorena died at the same time, innocently. “She left the house healthy and came back in a coffin.” Not a day goes by that she doesn’t think of her.
No more wishes for politicians
Brigitte W. hides her feelings towards the speeders. “The grief for Lorena is still much greater.” But of course, how to deal with speeders, “I can not understand”. Especially now that the speedy article is being dumped again. She asks: “Why should you protect people who drive through the village at 100 km/h?”
The decision of the politicians has Brigitte W. “taken power”. As a relative of a speeding victim, you don’t feel taken seriously. “Anyone can lose a child in a speeding accident or be injured themselves.”
Brigitte W. no longer has any wishes for politicians. She now knows: “They wouldn’t come true anyway.”
* Name known