Berliners call for SUV ban after four people killed in collision
BERLIN - Politicians in Berlin are calling for a city-centre ban on “tank-like” SUVs after a driver reportedly lost control of his car and hit a group of pedestrians in the German capital, killing four people.
Police have opened an involuntary manslaughter investigation into the 42-year driver of a Porsche Macan who reportedly overtook cars waiting at a traffic light in the central Mitte area at 7.10 pm on Friday, before mounting the pavement on the other side of the road. A 64-year-old woman, her threeyear-old grandson, a Briton and a Spanish national, both in their 20s, died at the scene. Police said the family of the 29-year-old Briton, who was living in Berlin, had been informed.
The exact circumstances of the accident, which took place on Invalidenstrasse, a road lined with restaurants and shops with a 30km per hour speed limit, were unclear. There has been speculation the driver, who is being treated in hospital for head wounds, could have suffered a heart attack before the incident. A 67-year-old woman and a six-year-old child were also travelling in the Porsche Macan. A spontaneous vigil was held on Saturday night for those who died, amid a wider debate about the threat to pedestrians and cyclists posed by ever wider and heavier vehicles on urban streets. Stephan von Dassel, the district mayor of Berlin-Mitte, said “armour-like” SUVs did not belong in the city, as every driving error put the lives of people at risk. “These [cars] are also climate killers. They are a threat even without an accident,” he said. Oliver Krischer, a deputy leader of the Green party in the German parliament, called for size restrictions on SUVs allowed into city centres. “The best solution would be a nationwide rule that allowed local authorities to set size limits,” Krischer told Der Tagesspiegel newspaper.
(The Guardian)