Girl hit on zebra crossing lands in court

Possible fine for nine-year-old Swiss tearaway

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 14th February 2006 15:36 GMT

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Updated We're very glad to report that the Swiss are taking steps to ensure kids pay attention when crossing the road - by dragging into court a nine-year-old hit by a car on a zebra crossing.

The unnamed girl was, according to Ananova, "slightly injured after she was hit by the car while crossing the road with her mum and younger sister". The car driver, however, claimed she'd run out from behind a bus and straight into his car, thereby representing "a danger to him and other motorists".

The pre-teen tearaway now faces a possible fine when she appears in Schaffhausen youth court. A public prosecutor's office spokesperson confirmed this was the normal procedure for maintaning order on Schaffhausen's streets since it "shows them what they did wrong and prevents them from being involved in accidents in the future". ®

Update

Mercifully, the young lady in question was yesterday cleared by the court and will not now be breaking rocks for three months in the local jail. Thanks to those readers who wrote in with the happy news.

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