THE REASONS why a 'careful and experienced' Worksop driver pulled out of a junction into the path of an oncoming lorry will never be fully understood, a Nottingham coroner's court heard on Tuesday.
Michael Snell, 71, of Swaledale, died after his Toyota Corolla collided with a Volvo lorry as he pulled out from Hundred Acre Lane onto Blyth Road on Monday 11th February this year.
He was on the way home from the dentist in Langold with his wife
Agnes, who survived the accident, which happened at around 3.30pm.
Susan McKenzie, of Carlton, was driving behind Mr Snell when she saw him turn onto Blyth Road and said he had been driving extremely carefully and steadily.
”I remember seeing that the lorry was right there, on top of the car,” she said.
”The only reason I can think of as to why he pulled out is that the lorry was olive green coloured, and with the sun being very low and bright and the trees casting shadows on the road, it was hard to see it.”
Deputy coroner Martin Gotheridge heard evidence from lorry driver Adrian Wilkinson, who had been driving lorries for 12 months at the time, and expert forensic collision investigator Pc Andrew Fletcher, who said visibility on the day was good.
”My investigations at the same time the next day showed that seeing other vehicles would not have been impossible,” he said.
”Saying exactly why Mr Snell pulled out would be speculation, but I can appreciate that he took evasive action and that the low sun would have caused difficulty for some drivers.”
Mr Gotheridge, who recorded a verdict of accidental death, said the straightforward facts of the accident did not make the tragedy any easier, and that the reasons why he suddenly pulled out would never be understood.
”If you were to rerun these events in your head, you would ask who in their right mind would do such a thing,” he said.
”But the fact is he was a careful and experienced driver, who had been driving for over 50 years.”
“The low sun may have had an impact, or he could have been distracted by the car in front of the lorry turning left into Hundred Acre Lane. We will never know.”
He added: ”All too often we have to deal with this kind of tragedy in this court. My sympathies go to him and his family at this sad time.”
The full article contains 416 words and appears in Worksop Guardian newspaper.
