Victim hit by car was three times drink limit

Avtar Bening was seen looking drunk and staggering in and out of the bushes in the dark by another motorist before he was hit near to Sandwell Valley Crematorium on July 29 last year.

Mr Bening, who was aged 46 and unemployed, died from spinal and head injuries following the incident in Forge Lane at 10.08pm.

At an inquest at Smethwick Council House yesterday, driver Rayel Johnson described the moments he hit Mr Bening, who lived in Alexandra Avenue in Handsworth.

Mr Johnson, of Ada Road in Smethwick, said: "From nowhere this man appeared in front of the car, I never even saw him, I just felt the hit.

"I don't know where he came from."

The inquest also heard from traffic collision investigator Pc Graham Harrison, who found that the offside dipped light beam on Mr Johnson's Ford Focus was not working.

But he said the light failure would not have made any difference, adding Mr Johnson, even if his lights had been in order, would still not have had enough time to react before the collision. In a reconstruction of the crash, Pc Harrison found the country lane to being 'as dark as it gets' following sunset.

He calculated that Mr Johnson could have only seen Mr Bening, who was dressed in dark clothing, up to 65ft before the crash, giving him under a second to react while driving at 30mph.

Pc Harrison said: "Pedestrians at night should wear reflective clothing and walk on the side of the road to face oncoming traffic."

He said a blood test showed there were 230 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millitres of blood in Mr Bening's blood. The legal limit for driving is 80 milligrams.

Black Country Coroner Robin Balmain concluded Mr Bening died as a result of the crash.

He said: "This case highlights the danger to pedestrians – firstly of walking in the road in very dark clothing and secondly walking at night having drunk a lot of alcohol."

He added: "It seems to me that there is no reason for Mr Johnson to criticise himself in this case."