Drunk father runs over son with tractor: tragedy in Birkfeld!

Drunk father runs over son with tractor: tragedy in Birkfeld!

In a tragic incident in Birkfeld, Styria, a 36-year-old farmer ran over his seven-year-old son with a tractor on Monday evening. The accident occurred while the man was driving the tractor out of the garage after repairing his vehicle and overlooked his son, who was playing in the driveway. The tractor caught the child's foot, causing the boy to scream loudly.

After the scream, the father backed up the tractor and the boy limped to his mother. The farmer then alerted the emergency call center himself. The injured son was flown by a rescue helicopter to the children's clinic in Graz after the Red Cross had initially treated him on site. The severity of the injuries initially remained unclear.

Alcohol content and legal consequences

The police carried out an alcohol test on the 36-year-old, which came back positive. The farmer had obviously violated the legal regulations, which in Austria stipulate a maximum limit of 0.5 per mille of alcohol in the blood. A stricter limit of 0.1 per mille applies to probationary license holders as well as truck and bus drivers. Alcohol consumption significantly impairs the ability to react and thus road safety, which was also evident in the 2,676 alcohol-related traffic accidents last year, in which 26 people died and 3,303 were injured.

The penalties for drunk driving are clearly regulated in Austria. If your blood alcohol content is between 0.5 and 0.79 per mille, you can expect fines of between 300 and 3,700 euros; A reservation in the driver's license register is also due. If the blood alcohol level exceeds 0.8, your driver's license will be revoked for at least one month. In addition, the liability insurance of the person who caused the accident while drunk can claim back up to 11,000 euros, which further increases the financial burden.

Relevance and concern in society

This incident highlights the serious consequences of driving under the influence, not only for the driver but also for uninvolved family members. The fact that a father ran over his own son is leading to increased public awareness of the dangers of drink driving. The legal framework that applies in such cases is designed to be both preventative and punitive in order to ensure road safety and prevent such tragedies.

You can find more information about drunk driving and its legal consequences in the reports from ÖAMTC and ORF.