Driver didn’t see woman

Fatality ‘tragic for everyone’, says magistrate

A BUS driver has been found guilty of causing death by negligent driving in relation to a pedestrian crash in Burnie labelled “tragic for everyone concerned.”

Graeme John Hutchison, 59, told the Burnie Magistrate’s Court he did not see Rimma Bogdanova, 89, from NSW, as she crossed at the pedestrian crossing on the corner of Wilson and Cattley streets in January last year.

Hutchison said he did remember seeing a male pedestrian and told the court he must have been focused on him.

“I didn’t realise that she’d walked straight across in front of me. I can’t remember seeing her,” he said.

“I was initially watching the light go red and then I saw a guy go across the road before the light went green. I watched him go across. I don’t know how I could have not seen her.”

The Metro bus hit the woman — who was touring Burnie as part of a cruise holiday — and she died at the scene.

Magistrate Leanne Topfer called the fatal crash a tragedy for all concerned.

“The deceased crossed the road on a green pedestrian light. The evidence indicated she was walking at a consistent pace,” Ms Topfer said when handing down her decision on Friday.

“She did not suddenly run out in front of the traffic. In fact, the CCTV indicates she had walked across Cattley Street before commencing to cross Wilson Street.

“The defendant did not see her at all.

“I find that he failed to keep a proper lookout, focusing on the other pedestrian who was crossing the road and that even if there was a blind spot, and I am not satisfied that any blind spots were a factor in the fatality, he did not take sufficient care in the circumstances.”

The maximum sentence for negligent driving causing death is two years’ jail.

Hutchison had been driving Metro buses for more than four years when the accident happened.

His lawyer Stephen Wright told the court Ms Bogdanova’s death had a significant impact on Hutchison, who had no prior driving offences over a 13-year professional driving career.

Ms Topfer will hand down her sentence on March 10.