Crash man’s wife ‘struck wall in panic’

A 68-YEAR-OLD man died from injuries sustained in an accident in which his wife drove into a wall in a panic, after being beeped by drivers at a set of traffic lights.

Joseph Doyle was going for lunch with his wife, Margaret Doyle, on April 23, 2017, when the accident occurred.

Mrs Doyle was an inpatient at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin and had not driven her car, a Nissan Micra, for a while, the court heard.

She had tried to organise a company to make the journey to Blackrock for Sunday lunch, but it was fully booked, Dublin Coroner’s Court heard. When the lights turned green, cars behind her began beeping, causing her to panic.

‘I thought I had time to move the seat at the lights,’ Mrs Doyle said in her deposition. ‘In a panic I ended up driving into a wall.’

Mr Doyle, from Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, was a back-seat passenger but he was not wearing his seat belt, according to Bridie Doyle, who was in the front passenger seat.

Bridie said: ‘She [Margaret Doyle] went to adjust her seat. She took off then, she just panicked. Instead of the brake she pressed the accelerator and we hit the wall.’

Garda Paul Nolan said: ‘It’s believed there were cars behind beeping and this caused the driver to panic and press the accelerator instead of the brake. The car moved forward, mounted the footpath and hit the wall.’

The collision caused Mr Doyle to strike the seat in front of him and he suffered a broken neck. He was paralysed, and was unable to move his arms or legs. Despite treatment, his condition deteriorated and his breathing grew compromised. He died in hospital on June 28, 2017.

The cause of death was pneumonia due to paralysis of all four limbs, due to a cervical spinal cord injury sustained in the collision. The jury returned a verdict of misadventure.

‘Car mounted footpath’