Anyone Hear about this Tragedy

[WiLL]

Yeah,i Stumbled apon this.. Video looking at the News

Sure was Scary.. poor people that got hit.. or Ran over.
i didn't really see them get Creamed, No good huh.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5896210?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

[Remko]

Yeah, that's been dominating the news here yesterday, real chilling to hear the crowd scream.

Immediately sparked discussion about the safety rules about such events here, many people saying the crowd was way to close, and were behind simple fences, no concrete barriers or hay bales or any of that sort.
The organizers said the stunt team were professionals, but for unknown reasons the truck kept going when it should have stopped, with tragic results. Police is still investigating if this was a technical problem or a human error, and the driver's been held in custody for the moment (reporters saying he seemed to be in total shock himself).

[WiLL]

Yes soon as the Video started,i knew it Looked not Good.
Are Town has,a newer GrandStand built,few yrs ago.
has the Safety Features,you mentioned,an sorry that
happen,in your Province how far away,um was it from
your town Remko.  so the Driver,was Shocked he got
Contained,    well... i was just wondering,if it was close
to you,was about all? Pal
Mondays... Ugh                                         

[MADMAN_nfs]

Seems this accident was a combination of poor maintenance and the driver being a real daredevil (he was sentenced to 15 months in jail finally).

The accident was caused by a piece of glass getting stuck in the throttle valve, so the engine kept reving up despite the driver not pressing the gas pedal.

"Mario D. was supposed to drive the 1,500-horsepower monster truck over several cars as part of the AutoMotorSportief event on September 28, 2014. It was organized in a public square off Stationsstraat in the town of about 25 thousand people. D. drove over the cars before the truck jolted forward, made a hard left turn, and rammed straight into the people gathered in the town square at Stationsstraat.

After working with video and audio footage recorded during the stunt, forensic investigators confirmed initial suspicions that the truck's engine revved to a higher RPM after it came off the cars, but before it careened towards the crowd. D. said that his foot was off the accelerator, but the throttle was stuck making it impossible to break.

The Netherlands Forensic Institute found evidence that a 4.4 millimeter piece of glass was wedged in the throttle valve, jamming it open. This caused the truck's engine to reach 5,500 RPM, which would normally allow the truck to reach a speed of 45 km/h, even though the truck's highest measured speed at the time of the accident was 28.5 km/h.

The piece of glass, found in the truck's air filter, was possibly sucked into the vehicle through a valve, or even left behind after prior maintenance. The NFI added that it was possible the glass had been present long before the accident happened.

Investigators also focused on the likely failure of one of the truck's two steering systems. The rear-wheel steering was definitely enabled, but a loosened power cable connection found in forensic research caused that part of the system to fail."

So, actually im a bit confused why the driver got sentenced, when there is evidence for a mechanical failure.
Maybe someone has more information?

edit: someone replied to this topic recently - seems that this user removed his post. Just in case someone is wondering... 

[Remko]

edit: someone replied to this topic recently - seems that this user removed his post. Just in case someone is wondering... 

Actually, that was me - it was a bot that randomly bumped two older topics with a generic text as a response, so I deactivated the account, which automatically wipes his posts. I probably should have made it clear.