Berlin – For some, memories of the serious accident in September 2019 in Mitte were awakened on Tuesday evening in Mariendorf: At the corner of Mariendorfer Damm at the corner of Alt-Mariendorf, a Mercedes GLK 220 came off the road and sped onto the sidewalk. The SUV hit a traffic light and a street sign. He hit a parked car across the street. The 42-year-old driver had apparently blacked out why he had lost control. It is probably thanks to the late time that no one was on the sidewalk.
The accident happened on the eve of the start of the trial against the driver who caused an accident in a large SUV on Invalidenstrasse in September 2019. According to prosecutors, he had rammed a traffic light with his car because of an epileptic seizure, rolled over and hit pedestrians on the sidewalk. Four people died – including a three-year-old boy.
Because the car was a “Sports Utility Vehicle” (SUV), the debate about these vehicles flared up shortly after the accident. Bicycle and pedestrian lobby clubs called for SUVs to be banned from the city center. The vice-head of the Green parliamentary group, Oliver Krischer, demanded an upper limit for SUVs. The Green Mayor of Mitte, Stephan von Dassel, tweeted: “Such tank-like cars don’t belong in the city”. Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg’s City Councilor Florian Schmidt (Greens) sees the accident as “symbolic”: SUVs would have led to a car culture of “I, I, I”. The chairman of the supervisory board of Volkswagen, Hans Dieter Pötsch, in turn, criticized the instrumentalisation of a fatal accident that he saw as being instrumental in his view: “It is partly disrespectful, as it is argued.”
According to ADAC, the SUVs are being produced by more and more automakers. These cars have greater ground clearance and the advantage that the driver sits slightly higher. Getting in and out is more convenient, especially for older drivers.
On Wednesday, on the sidelines of the start of the trial, lawyer Christina Klemm, who represents the parents of the dead child, said: “You don’t understand transport policy. Is that what we want in our cities? Do we want such dangerous weapons to fall into the hands of people who are unsuitable for them? ”So the debate is far from over.
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