Coroner raises road concerns after Stafford pensioner death
A coroner has said he will write to highways officials over a road where a pensioner died after being struck by a car.
Peter Desmond Banks, aged 82, was hit by a black Vauxhall Astra in Stafford on the morning of May 5 last year. He died at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire on May 16 as a result of his injuries.
An inquest held yesterday was told that the smash happened when the Vauxhall Astra was turning right from Weston Road into Westhead Avenue. Driver Taylor White told the coroner Mr Andrew Haigh that there was a queue of traffic in Weston Road and she did not see Mr Banks, who lived in the street, until he was in the road.
Mr Haigh asked her: "Why didn't you see him?"
Miss White, of Beckford Avenue, Stafford, replied: "I have thought about it since and I can't think of any reason why I didn't see him."
Witness Sandra Goodwin said in her statement: "I saw an elderly gentleman walking on the pavement – he stepped off the pavement and as he did so a black car came round and hit him."
Traffic collision investigator Pc Christopher Clarke told the inquest no faults were found on the vehicle which was being driven at less than 20mph.
"We have submitted a report pointing out to the local authority that there is only a distance of eight metres between the pedestrian crossing point at the edge of the pavement. At that distance a driver hasn't got enough time to stop," Pc Clarke added.
South Staffordshire coroner Mr Haigh said he too would write to highways bosses over the matter. He added that the Crown Prosecution Service had decided not to take any action against Miss White.
He said the cause of Mr Banks' death was pneumonia, a head injury and multiple fractures.
