The verdict was delivered on 24 September 2026 by the criminal court in Orléans. As reported by “La République du Centre” and “Ouest-France”, the lorry driver was found guilty of unintentionally causing death and received a six-month suspended prison sentence.
The crash happened during the night of 3 July 2025 on the A71 near Ardon, in France’s Loiret department.
The driver had been unable to find a free space in a designated lorry park. He therefore drove his lorry and trailer onto the motorway’s hard shoulder, despite knowing that stopping there was prohibited.
He was not the only driver in that situation. According to “Ouest-France”, four other lorries had also stopped on the hard shoulder.
“I had no choice”
The driver did not deny that he had stopped in an illegal location.
I knew I was not allowed to park there. But I had no choice. If I had continued driving, I would have breached the rules on drivers’ hours, he told the court, according to French media reports.
His explanation reflects a wider problem.
Drivers must stop driving and begin their required rest period when their legal driving time expires. At the same time, road rules do not allow a multi-tonne lorry and trailer to be parked just anywhere.
When every parking space is occupied, drivers can be caught between two legal obligations, with no safe and lawful way to meet both. In this case, stopping on the hard shoulder had fatal consequences.
A car crashed into the parked lorry
During the night, a car collided with the stationary lorry. The car’s driver died at the scene.
The lorry driver tried to help, but witnesses said he was in shock when emergency services arrived. More than a year later, he still appeared visibly distressed by the tragedy during the court proceedings.
However, investigators found that the circumstances were more complex than the lorry’s illegal parking alone. The car’s driver had probably fallen asleep at the wheel. French media also reported that he was extremely fatigued and had alcohol and medication in his system.
The prosecution therefore did not argue that the lorry driver had directly caused the collision. According to the prosecutor’s case, quoted by “Ouest-France”, he ‘did not cause the crash, but created the conditions in which the damage could occur’.
The court nevertheless found him guilty of unintentionally causing death and imposed a six-month suspended prison sentence.
This is not only a French problem
The tragedy on the A71 illustrates, in stark terms, a problem affecting road freight across Europe. As drivers approach the end of their permitted driving time, they must find somewhere to rest. Yet lorry parking areas along many key transport corridors are routinely full by evening.
As a result, lorries are left near motorway service-area entrances and exits, on access roads, hard shoulders and other surfaces that were never designed for parking.
That creates a serious risk for lorry drivers and everyone else using the road.
The Netherlands has installed barriers
The scale of the problem has led Dutch road authorities to adopt physical measures to prevent lorries from stopping by installing barriers. This month, Rijkswaterstaat installed red-and-white bollards anchored into the ground alongside the A16. They are intended to stop drivers from using the hard shoulder as additional parking space.
Previously, authorities used movable cones, but drivers could push them aside or drive over them. The permanent barriers are designed to close off the stopping area completely. Similar measures have been introduced alongside the A73 near Venray.
The road-safety rationale is clear: a lorry should not be left on a hard shoulder, where it can become an obstacle for other vehicles. But bollards do not create the parking capacity that is missing.
Drivers start looking 90 minutes before their break
The shortage is particularly severe in the Netherlands. Drivers reportedly begin looking for an open space up to 90 minutes before they plan to stop. A 2022 study cited by the trade organisation Evofenedex estimated that the country was short of around 4,000 lorry parking spaces, with Limburg and North Brabant among the worst-affected areas.
A driver who cannot find a space has few realistic options. Continuing to drive may mean breaching driving and rest-time rules. Stopping somewhere prohibited can lead to a fine and, more importantly, put the driver and other road users at risk.
In the Netherlands, unauthorised stopping on the hard shoulder can result in a fine of €320 plus €9 in administrative costs. Even so, drivers continue to take the risk.
Germany is short tens of thousands of spaces
Germany faces a similar challenge, despite being crossed by some of Europe’s busiest freight routes. Data cited by German industry organisations indicates a shortage of roughly 40,000 lorry parking spaces.
The issue becomes especially visible in the evening. Drivers start searching well before they need to stop because the next parking area may already be full. But the lack of an available space does not automatically entitle them to leave a lorry on the hard shoulder.
Should illegal parking be punished or more rest areas built?
The A71 case shows how acute the conflict between mandatory rest and inadequate infrastructure can become. The driver knew that stopping on the hard shoulder was illegal, but he also believed that continuing would breach the rules. He was not alone that night: four other lorries were parked nearby.
At the same time, investigators concluded that the car’s driver had probably fallen asleep at the wheel, with alcohol and medication possibly contributing to his condition.
Those circumstances did not remove the legal significance of the lorry’s illegal stopping position. The court found the driver guilty of unintentionally causing death. The verdict, however, does not resolve the infrastructure problem that led to the situation on the A71.
Authorities can install barriers, raise fines and remove lorries from hard shoulders more aggressively. But if drivers are legally required to stop, they also need somewhere safe and lawful to do so.
Without enough lorry parking, banning roadside stops does not eliminate the problem. It simply moves it to the next rest area, the next exit or the next hard shoulder.
