Driver in Botinec Never Passed a Driving Test
Tragedy in a New Zagreb neighborhood reveals alarming circumstances: the car was unregistered, and all accident participants were previously known to police.
Tragedy in a New Zagreb neighborhood reveals alarming circumstances: the car was unregistered, and all accident participants were previously known to police.
Zagreb police have confirmed what seemed unimaginable from the very start, the 35-year-old driver who caused a fatal traffic accident in Botinec last night was behind the wheel without having passed a driving test for any vehicle category. Her life, along with those of two passengers, was extinguished in the wreckage of a Mazda whose registration and license plates had expired last year.
The unregistered car with Zagreb plates, whose ownership and reason for avoiding technical inspection since last year are still under investigation, was driven by a woman with no formal qualifications. Index portal has unofficially learned that both she and the two men who died were well known to police, not for traffic violations, but for far more serious breaches of the law.
The tragedy occurred on Tuesday, August 5, 2026, around 10 PM on Dr. Luje Naletilića Street. Traveling northeast, the 35-year-old lost control of the vehicle upon reaching house number 85, veered off the asphalt, and slammed at full speed into a concrete Elektra utility pole. The force of the collision literally split the Mazda in two, scattering debris across the road and surrounding area.
A 48-year-old passenger was killed at the scene. The driver was rushed to KBC Zagreb with severe injuries, while doctors at KBC Sestre milosrdnice attempted to save a 29-year-old, but their injuries proved too severe, and both later succumbed.
The investigation was led by Zagreb police, with the deputy county state attorney overseeing the scene. Traffic on Dr. Luje Naletilića Street was completely halted from 10 PM until 3 AM, with vehicles diverted to alternate routes. All three bodies were transported to the Institute of Forensic Medicine and Criminology, where autopsies will help reconstruct the final seconds before impact.
The criminal investigation now focuses on the precise cause of the vehicle's veering off the road and all circumstances that allowed an unlicensed driver to take the wheel of a car that should not have been on the road for months.
