Vehicle crashes into trees

Defective brakes: woman and boy thrown from quad bike

(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

A terrible accident on Sunday evening in the Stubai Valley in Tyrol: two women and a boy (9) were riding a quad bike in Mieders on a forest road into the valley when the vehicle's brakes suddenly failed. After a wild ride over steep terrain and a forest clearing, the quad bike crashed into trees.

The accident happened shortly after 6.30 pm. The quad bike was being driven by a 28-year-old local woman - on board were another Austrian woman (37) and her nine-year-old son.

Quad bike became faster and faster
Heading towards the valley from a mountain restaurant, the foot brake suddenly stopped working before the last bend. "The vehicle therefore became faster and faster and began to swing back and forth," said the police.

The quad bike finally went over the right-hand edge of the path, crashed into a sloping clearing in the forest, returned from there to the forest road and finally crashed into a group of trees. 

The driver and the child lay injured next to the vehicle, which had come to a standstill on its wheels.

Die Polizei

"The force of the impact caused the quad bike to spin on its own axis and the driver and child were thrown from the vehicle. They lay injured next to the vehicle, which had come to a standstill on its wheels," the investigators continue.

Driver taken to shock room
After first aid, the seriously injured 28-year-old female driver was flown to Innsbruck Hospital by emergency helicopter "C1" and taken to the trauma room. The mother and son suffered minor injuries. They were taken to Hall in Tirol hospital by ambulance. 

The quad bike was seized by order of the public prosecutor's office in Innsbruck for a technical inspection of the brakes.