Daddy speeding "accidentally"

"It was an accident", some may say. Right. Let's see. According to witnesses, Ciaran Tobin had been, at the time of the "accident", speeding recklessly for a good 20-30 minutes coming back from Visegrád to Budapest, in bumper-to-bumper traffic, on a two-lane road, through mostly residential neighbourhoods, enjoying his fast car, overtaking constantly using both the left lane and the shoulder (!) on the right. All the while, his pregnant wife sitting next to him.

When inside the picturesque village of Leányfalu, at a bus stop outside the library, he ventured out in the left lane again, one too many times. Bad judgement of speed, time and space and an upcoming car. And his own abilities.

According to court papers the car was moving at 70-85 km/h at the time of the impact. After hitting and knocking down two traffic signs, one a speed limit, the other one a pedestrian's crossing, that is.

Marci was standing in the middle of the sidewalk, Petra sitting in a pram, waiting to cross on the Zebra. They were thrown away some 10 meters, and the Volvo only stopped on hitting a bus.

Parents, who lived nearby, were called on the phone, and ran to the scene. Paramedics were helpless. Marci and Petra died instantly. They were pronounced dead by the doctor of the helicopter ambulance.

According to court papers, although Tobin variably claimed a technical failure of the car, experts established there was nothing wrong with the Volvo S40.

Various news sources and the father's post on the index.hu forum on April 12, 2000, three days after the accident, were used for this post.