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Pedestrian tragically hit by tram in Stuttgart – eyewitnesses wanted!
A fatal accident in Stuttgart in which a pedestrian was hit by a light rail train raises questions about road safety.
Pedestrian tragically hit by tram in Stuttgart – eyewitnesses wanted!
On the night of Saturday to Sunday there was a tragic accident in Stuttgart in which a 28-year-old man was hit by a tram. The incident occurred shortly before midnight on Schlossstrasse when the man wanted to cross the tracks and apparently overlooked the approaching U2 train. The impact was so violent that the man died at the scene of the accident. The police have already started an investigation and are looking for witnesses to the accident. Tips are accepted on 0711-8990 4100, as [SWR] reports.
As a result of the accident, Schlossstrasse was temporarily closed to both light rail and vehicle traffic. Fortunately, the passengers on the light rail in the direction of Botnang were uninjured. The Stuttgart public prosecutor's office has commissioned an accident expert to clarify the exact course of the accident.
Sleep apnea as a potential risk factor
In the past, there was another serious incident in Stuttgart in which two light rail vehicles collided and injured 17 people, including a 26-year-old woman who was in a coma for several weeks. In this case, the light rail driver was suffering from sleep apnea at the time of the accident and had only slept a little over three hours the night before the accident. This led to questions about the woman's fitness to drive and the responsibility of her employer, the Stuttgart Tramways (SSB), as [Stuttgarter Nachrichten] reports. The charges are based on negligent bodily harm and negligently endangering rail traffic.
The seriousness of sleep apnea should not be underestimated, as experts from [Ärzteblatt] also emphasize. According to estimates, around 13% of men and 7% of women in Germany suffer from undiagnosed sleep apnea. This is particularly worrying because the condition can provide signals such as loud, irregular snoring and pauses in breathing - but many sufferers are not even aware of their condition. Studies show that people with sleep apnea are 2 to 7 times more likely to cause accidents than the general population.
These recent incidents highlight important issues surrounding public transport safety and driver health monitoring. As the investigation into the current incident continues, hope remains that such tragic accidents can be avoided in the future.