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Audi Driver Bloodthirsty for Bikers—and Reparations Print E-mail
Written by Kate Trainor   
Friday, 07 March 2008


Since when did cars become more precious than human life? For Basque businessman Tomas Delgado, that day came in 2004 when he hit and killed a 17-year-old cyclist—then sued the deceased teen’s family for $30,000 in damages to his vehicle and for the car he rented to replace his totaled Audi A8. Authorities determined that Delgado had been driving at 100mph in a 55mph zone when his car collided with the boy.

Here’s the report from USA Today:

 

Tomas Delgado claims that the nighttime crash caused more than $20,000 damage and that a rental car cost him nearly $9,000.

"I'm also a victim in all of this, you can't fix the lad's problems, but you can fix mine," Delgado told the paper. He was not charged in the crash that killed 17-year-old Enaitz Iriondo, who was not wearing a helmet or reflective clothing.

Iriondo's family was awarded nearly $50,000 after Delgado's insurance company admitted he had been driving too fast.


Traffic fatalities in Spain are a serious problem, according to the European Union's statistics office. In 2004, Spain recorded 113 traffic fatalities per million inhabitants. In 2006, 3,016 people died on Spain’s unfriendly streets. This story was originally reported in the Spanish newspaper El Pais.

Photo via flickr by felipe_SMIDES & safoocat.

Comments (3)add comment

SolarDave said:

 		 something tells me that Senor Delgado is not a nice person. And even the other Spanish drivers are completely insane; I know that if I were riding a bike, I'd first encase myself in a 10' diameter luminescent foam bubble. I can't imagine riding a bike at night without a helmet or reflectors, but the greater fault obviously lies with the guy going 100mph.
March 07, 2008

Le Fiffre said:

 		 Grrrrr...
March 09, 2008

Trev said:

 		 Are you serious?: "you can't fix the lad's problems, but you can fix mine" ???
(first of all, why would a Spaniard say 'lad'? Do they do they say that there?)
Anyway...
of course, this is completely ridiculous!!! Sue-happy people who found out that they CAN try to get money for doing something wrong. The law allows this to happen, but the judges should never let it amount to anything.
Bikers beware of the people out there who aren't always looking out for you.
March 14, 2008

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