New details have emerged about the tragic road accident that occurred on the morning of Friday (7/8) in Serres, which claimed the lives of a 43-year-old mother and her 24-year-old son. Road accident expert Panagiotis Stamiris shared new insights while speaking to ERT, analyzing footage captured at the moment of the collision. According to Stamiris, the vehicle driven by the 24-year-old appears to have been traveling at speed — most likely exceeding the legal limit for that stretch of road. However, he stressed that speed alone was not the only contributing factor to the crash.
Analyzing the moment the car appears to drift out of its lane and cross into oncoming traffic — just before colliding with a truck — the expert noted: «The vehicle begins to veer well before the point of impact, and the way it veers suggests that speed alone wasn’t what caused it to drift. Perhaps there was some distraction — maybe he was on his phone or something else caught his attention».
As Stamiris explained, «excessive speed affects how quickly a driver can regain control of the vehicle, and whether the car veers because the critical cornering speed has been exceeded. From the moment the car starts drifting out of its lane and into oncoming traffic, no attempt is made to correct course — and when a correction is finally attempted, the vehicle has already been traveling in the wrong lane for some time. That’s why I believe there may have been a moment of distraction, or perhaps the inexperience of a young driver who failed to properly assess the situation and didn’t react in time».
Serres tragedy: The fatal car was traveling at more than 80 km/h
«His speed was definitely elevated. I believe it was above the limit. When we talk about the critical cornering speed, we mean that every moving vehicle has a threshold — if that threshold is exceeded on a bend, the car will veer off course. Based on what I can see in the video, and taking into account the testimony of the other driver — who says he was traveling at 70–80 km/h and appears in the footage to be moving slower than the victims’ vehicle — I estimate that the victims’ car was traveling at well above 70–80 km/h», the expert emphasized.
What troubles him most, however, is the apparent lack of any timely reaction from the driver: «From the moment the vehicle begins to drift toward the oncoming lane — even before it fully crosses over — a fully alert driver would have already started correcting. But what we see is the car entering the oncoming lane, traveling several meters in it, and only then beginning to correct course.
That points to one of two things: either the driver was slow to realize what was happening, or due to inexperience, he was unable to properly assess the situation».
The family’s father — who lost both his wife and his son in the tragedy — arrived at the scene shortly after the crash. «I lost everything — something was pulling at my heart», said the devastated man.
