I posted up this horror ages ago when it first happened.
I sum up another version from the local Advertiser (which my sister Ju-Ju actually sent in summary to me via e-mail...
Per the Advertiser paper:
Quote:
His coughing was allegedly so bad that the passengers on board were worried and commented on it - per the prosecutor.
The case for the prosecution was that this driver took to the wheel knowing he was unfit to drive because of his throaty cough lurgy. Driver is said to be a cheerful chap with a good rapport with the passengers
(Said before - sure fire way to spread lurgies and folk are not wimps if they take a "duvet day" to sweat it out of them.
)
Quote:
The jury was shown 17 seconds of the bus's on board CCTV system to show how the bus veered and swerved around before colliding with the lolly lady.
The prosecutor alleged that there was no attempt to brake at all or avoid the collision.
The driver says he could nto remember leaving the bus stop further up and recalled little of the 135 metres to impact.
But there were SKID marks which the prosecution said was a last minute attempt to avoid the collision - which does seem to contradict his earlier claim that there was no attempt to brake!
Pc G of GMPs Collision reconstruction Team says that the skid marks show the brakes had been applied as if in emergency .. but that the rear wheels had locked. He told the court that the driver must have applied much force on the brakes to do this.. a sudden and severe pedal pressure.
The jury of 10 women and two men were told that the bus had no defects at all.
The prosecution warned the jury that the defence would claim the driver suffered from an altered state of consciousness or "micro-sleep" and had not been responsible for the accident. He claimed that this would be "unbelievable and not fit in with the other witness evidence"
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... r_cleared_MEN wrote:
Bus death driver cleared
17/ 5/2008
A BUS driver has been cleared of causing the death of a Salford lollipop lady by dangerous driving.
Stephen Wilson, 57, was accused of causing death by dangerous driving after Stephanie Davies was knocked down outside a school.
He was behind the wheel of the single-deck M10 Arriva bus service when the incident happened on September 11, 2006.
Mrs Davies had been standing at traffic lights outside Seedley County Primary School on Liverpool Street where she worked as a lollipop lady.
Coughing fit
Prosecutor Adrian Farrow had claimed Wilson suffered a coughing fit moments before the collision.
He told the jury that Mr Wilson's defence would be that he had suffered a "microsleep" at the wheel but asked them to discount that.
On Thursday, Judge Peter Lakin directed the jury of 10 women and two men at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court to find Mr Wilson not guilty four days into the two-week trial.
Mrs Davies' husband Martin, who had come to meet her and collect their daughter Anna from school, was one of the first on the scene and was heard screaming "My wife, my wife" after seeing her underneath the vehicle.
Denied
Mr Wilson, of Coniston Grove, Salford, denied the charge.
Mr Davies paid a tribute to a "wonderful" wife today.
He said: "Steph was a warm, wonderful mother and wife. She loved working with children and lost her life doing a job she loved.
"She was well loved by the community, which was shocked by the event. The community have given us great family support since this event and I wish to pass on my thanks to them all."
He knew he was unfit to work. There is nothing "stoic" about working in that state of health to be honest here. I am possibly being subjective given what happened to Wildy all those years ago too
But I am also work in the field of PRENTING the spread of lurgies and would say to folk to take a "duvet day.. drink lots of hot lemon with honey and chicken broth" rather than cough a lurgy around like this
I do not think dangerous driving could have been proven under the circumstances. I think if we had a "negligent" option as in Switzerland/Austria/Germany/France - then there may have been a guilty verdict on this one given he knowingly went to work with a very, very nasty case of laryngitis
My condolences to the lolly lady and her family.
I also offer condolences to the driver who will still surely live with a guilt burden of "what if/if only" for the rest of his life in any case -regardless.
He was not speeding either by the way. But it still shows how a typical tragedy is caused by simply ignoring common sense decisions such as "calling in sick when genuinely sick"
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