Safe Speed Forums

Whitchurch teacher lost control of car and killed man

Saturday 24th December 2011, 10:59AM GMT.

A Whitchurch teacher lost control of her car, hitting and killing a pedestrian as she braked when she saw him about to cross the road, a court heard.

XXXXXs car began skidding before colliding with 71-year-old Y as he crossed the A49 at Prees Green, near Whitchurch, on February 5. The 26-year-old, of Fairways Drive, Whitchurch, admitted causing death by driving without due care and attention.

She also admitted three charges of driving with defective tyres at a previous hearing.

At Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday she was sentenced to 250 hours of unpaid work, ordered to pay a total of £1,665, and banned from driving for 15 months.

The court heard the night before the accident XXX had stayed at a friend’s house in Shrewsbury and was driving home. As she was driving around a bend in the road she saw a person about to cross the road and carried out an emergency stop.

Mr Robert James Edwards, prosecuting, said XXX began skidding and hit MrY, sending him into the ditch.

Mr Edwards said: “She instantly stopped, as did a number of passing motorists who helped treat Mr Y. He was airlifted to University Hospital North Staffordshire where he was pronounced dead, caused by multiple injuries.

“Under interview, the officer in the case reported that XXX was the most remorseful he had ever seen someone in this position and she complied with officers completely.”

The vehicle was found to have three defective tyres, but experts had concluded that did not contribute to the accident.

Judge Robin Onions fined XXX£150 for each of the three defective tyres and ordered her to pay costs of £1,200 and a £15 victim surcharge. He said: “Let this be a lesson to you and I want it to be a lesson to everyone who reads about this case.

“There are people who will no doubt think that this may be a light sentence, but I feel it is just. Locking Miss XXX up would serve no benefit to the victim, her family, colleagues or friends.”

Mr Earl Pinnock, for XXX, said XXX had entered guilty pleas at the earliest opportunity and had shown considerable remorse.

I've blocked out the names on this newspaper report because I feel the driver has already been dealt with without having names bandied about the internet and my concern over this report is the statement of the "experts" that...."The vehicle was found to have three defective tyres, but experts had concluded that did not contribute to the accident."

Can anyone here explain to me, how three defective tyres (unless they all had bulges which is unlikely), could not have contributed to the accident, when she was supposed to have skidded and lost control?

_________________
My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

If, for instance, the road was coated with spilled oil then braking would precipitate a skid even if the tyre were perfect,

_________________
When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

So if the defective tyres werent at fault..... whats the lesson i'm meant to be learning here Mr Onions ??

This is the area here : http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=A49+at+ ... m&t=h&z=15

There is a copyright issue when using others material blocked out names or not, sorry. The Shropshire Star by Andrew Morris, printed the article here.
Added :
It is rare on here that we 'attack' anyone. Others may attack our stance on things and we debate it. Opinions on ability too have been known as very recently, but even then it is with constructive criticism to improve and grow at the heart.

I can only imagine that the tyres are bold or inner bold in which case she might be able to sue the Council for the speed humps and needless and dangerous damage to her vehicle - not that, that would have negated her responsibility to check the inner walls of her tyres. But how many do check and how often?
If the weather at the time of the incident, was good and dry, bold tyres would grip better of course.

This section of Prees Ggreen shows a sing warning of slippery roads for the next 1.25 miles :
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=A49+at+ ... 37,,0,0.64

or on this corner which seems to be the sharpest :
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=A49+at+ ... 81,,0,6.21

I can see no prior accident on the BBC Map of Road crashes (99-08) here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8401344.stm
So we can say that is is no accident black spot.

Speculation on how this was caused is hard without more data. But we know that - although the tyres were defective it played (according to the consulted RTA consultants), we can assumed that no other parts of the car were at fault or it is likely to have been mentioned, like mechanical failures, so what are we left with, driver and pedestrian errors and other influences, other distractions ?
The driver (a lady) saw him late, she braked, and from all accounts may have starred at the very place where she really didn't want to aim at, the pedestrian. Had she steered away while braking then lifted off the brake pedal and steered/braked appropriately, she may have very likely avoided him altogether, and even had she still had an accident it may not have had the same outcome.
If the Court has ordered her to take an appropriate driving course then it may help her ability and knowledge for the future.
Did she 'just' overreact?
Advising her to go on a proper course that would be of great benefit. She might feel that there was 'nothing that she could have done'. This I think that it is tragic as nothing has been 'learned' when it could be.

Was it just a fixed notice for bold tyres that you cannot receive a nick for more than one offence eg cannot be done for more than one defective tyre if all are the same offence ? I assume that all normal rules for fixed penalties change too once one is facing a Court.
(Edited)

_________________
Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

I suspect that "Defect" in this case is most likly to refer to inadiquate tread depth (Though there are of course other possibilities) If the road was dry at the time this would have had no effect on the vehicles braking or handling behaviour and therefore not have been a factor in the accident.

It always bothers me (for some reason) when, in the aftermath of an incident or accident prosecutions for "Irrelevent factors" are made as a result of unrelated "Offences" being discovererd during the course of the investigation.

I suppose my feeling is that it is one thing to investigate an accident in order to establish its causes (and if appropriate to allocate blame), it is another to treat the investigation as a sort of fishing expedition to see what else the involved parties can be got for! Its like the idea of issuing automatic FPN's for vehicle faults should you fail an MOT (Which I suspect would be entirely within the letter of the law, just downright sneaky and underhand and the act of a Cad!)

(I actually think there is a specific case for NOT bringing proscecutions for non-relevent factors after accidents-but thats just me...)

_________________
"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"

A good point. Fair enough that it needed she needed to face a Court unless there was evidence to show the pedestrian was clearly at fault ?
To fine for each fault where no causation link to the sever outcome was related seems very harsh too.
If they are implying that there is only people error here and no cause from other areas then why has the Judge not used this as a chance to educate and 'learn others' from this? As it stands it comes across from this report as a Judge that perhaps has failed to teach anything other than genuine remorse may help you in Court. No one has learned anything that I can see, in reality - unless the article has failed to report it of course!
In checking for more details on this story the link that I have added shows that he was hit before crossing the road, which is now making her braking action totally strange. Had she therefor lost control already on the bend and braked out of panic? so in fact if she was able to have controlled the slid and 'carry on' she would have been less likely to have hit him.
I still like the concept of teaching all motorists to have at least a half day on a skid pan.
There is a section earlier than my link (more south) where we can find a ditch on the R hand side of the road (going North) which would more likely make her skid while traversing a left hand bend ...

_________________
Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

Too many unknowns, (as usual) to make any meaningful comment. "Defective tyres" could mean a variety of things, not all of which would be easy for the driver to know about. Depending on road conditions at the time, I can only imagine she was travelling round a bend in a car without ABS or Electronic Stability Control, saw the bloke and for some reason panicked and stood on the brakes, locking up and understeered off, straight into him.

All very sad. Technology might have helped, better quality (and / or condition) tyres might have helped, a more agile and better balanced car might have helped, driver training might have helped - we just don't know. It's easy to say that someone should lift off, wind a bit of lock off, and re-apply the brakes. It's much harder to actually do it when you're about to hit someone - skid pan training or no skid pan training.

My heart goes out to all involved - especially the lady who was driving.

It does sound more a case of, panic braking/driver inexperience, than anything else, maybe if she hadn't have braked and assumed he would not have gone any further into the road that he already was, things would have been ok but we can't really speculate without being there.

_________________
My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.