Death spurs light probe

TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 2019 themercury.com.au SUBSCRIPTIONS 1300 696 397 THE State Government is reviewing traffic and pedestrian crossing lights at the intersection of Macquarie and Campbell streets as recommended by a coroner investigating the death of a pedestrian.

Coroner Simon Cooper yesterday released his findings into the death of Wendy Anne Evans, 46, a Queensland police officer on holiday in Hobart, who was struck by a Metro bus almost three years ago.

Mr Cooper said Ms Evans, dressed in black clothing and carrying a white shopping bag, was waiting to cross Campbell St at the lights near the Dunn Place car park about 6pm on July 22, 2016.

“It was dark at the time, raining and the roadway was wet,” Mr Cooper said.

“At the same time a Metro Tasmania bus driven by Stephen Murray Hartstonge was stopped in Macquarie St facing the same red light at the same intersection waiting to turn right to Campbell St.”

Mr Cooper said the two lights – one for pedestrians and one for traffic – turned green at the same time.

He said Ms Evans started to cross the road and Mr Hartstonge moved his bus forward and around the corner, gaining a maximum speed in the order of 5km/h.

Ms Evans was struck by an external mirror, which caused her to go under the front right wheel of the bus. Mr Cooper said she died at the scene from chest and head injuries.

During criminal proceedings against Hartstonge last year, the court heard he did not see Ms Evans.

Mr Cooper said a police reenactment, while not replicating the exact circumstances, showed Hartstonge had “ample opportunity to see Ms Evans as she walked towards the intersection”.

He said the officer who reenacted Ms Evans’ movements said she did not see the bus as she walked across Campbell St until it suddenly appeared in her peripheral vision immediately before it would have struck her.

Mr Cooper said the way the traffic and pedestrian lights operated contributed to the death.

“Had those lights not operated in such a way that the traffic and pedestrian lights both turned green at the same time, but rather the pedestrian crossing light turned green a period of time prior to the traffic light turning green, then it is likely in my view that Ms Evans would not have been killed.”

Mr Cooper recommended the Department of State Growth urgently review the operation of the lights.

A department spokesman yesterday State Growth was reviewing the operation of the traffic signals at Macquarie and Campbell streets as recommended by the coroner.

Hartstonge, 63, received a three-month suspended jail sentence in March last year after he was found guilty of causing Ms Evans’s death by negligent driving.

He was also disqualified from driving for two years but obtained a restricted licence allowing him to keep his job.