Woman dies after hit by truck

A woman died instantly after she was run down by a lorry in Vienna yesterday (Mon).A 64-year-old truck driver told the police he slowed down ahead of a zebra crossing before accelerating again since he spotted no pedestrians wanting to cross the road in the district of Brigittenau. The man claimed Nahide D., 52, must have stepped into the road at the very moment he increased the speed and looked ahead.The lorry driver did not notice that he had run down anybody. He stopped only after a passerby told him to a few dozen metres down the road.Police did not say whether they were investigating the incident to find out whether the driver acted negligently. He could face manslaughter charges if this were the case, according to Austrian law.The federal interior ministry recently announced that 548 people lost their lives in traffic accidents in Austria last year. The ministry said this was the lowest number ever since road accident fatalities were registered in 1950. The highest number of traffic deaths was counted in 1970 with 2,948.