FATAL CRASH INQUEST

A 56-year-old woman lost her life when the motorcycle she was a pillion passenger on went out of control on a bend and collided with an oncoming car on the Sligo to Manorhamilton Road in July 2016.

Details of the tragic death of Belfast woman, Anne Carson was recalled at an inquest into her death at Sligo Courthouse last week before Coroner Eamonn McGowan and a jury.

Her partner, James Hanna, driver of the motorbike, was paralysed in the collision which occurred at roadworks governed by temporary traffic lights on Sunday, July 24 th 2016. He also went into cardiac arrest at Sligo University Hospital and was in a coma for a number of weeks.

Ms Carson, a care worker of Fabourn Park, Belfast died at the scene.

She and her partner were the third couple travelling in a convoy of three motorbikes.

They had set off for a weekend road trip taking in Tralee and Galway and were returning home via Sligo and Enniskillen when the accident happened.

There was a sign shortly before the crash scene warning of oil on the road but a collision forensic investigator who carried out skid tests told the court he found no evidence of any contaminates on the road.

The bike came around a left hand bend and suddenly fell to the right with both Mr Hanna and Ms Carson falling off and on to the opposite side of the road colliding with a car coming in the opposite direction.

The driver of the third motorbike told the inquest he saw the front end of Mr Hanna’s bike “just went from under him.”

The collision occurred at around 1.20pm and weather conditions were poor at the time with heavy rain.

In a deposition read to the inquest, Mr Hanna said he and his partner along with two other couples had gone to Tralee on Thursday July 21st, staying two nights there and on to Galway where they stayed one night.

They left Galway at 11am on the 24 th and it was wet all day. When they got to Sligo they pulled into a filling station before heading out the Enniskillen road.

Mr Hanna said he was second in the convoy of three bikes on a Honda Blackbird.

“I don’t remember the road at all. The next thing I remem- ber was in hospital. I didn’t know which hospital but I found out it was Sligo later.” He was later transferred to the Royal

Victoria

Hospital in

Bel- fast for a few weeks.

“I am trying to piece things together but I can’t. I have been on bikes for years, 20 something years. I have been around Europe on the bike. I rode the bike 24/7 and in all conditions. Snow would be the only thing to faze me. Anne was an experienced passenger. She was calm on the bike and a good passenger,” he said.

Mr Hanna said he has had eight operations.

Thomas Boyd (54), in a deposition said he and his partner, Barbara Creelman had travelled with Mr Hanna and his partner and another couple, Thomas Glenn and his partner Zara.

He said all three would have been experienced motorbike drivers.

They had stayed in a bed and breakfast in Galway, getting up at 8.30am. Thomas and Zara Glenn went home earlier while the others returned about 1am They hadn’t drank much.

They had planned to stop in Sligo because Ms Carson wanted to get something for her grand daughter. They drove through town but didn’t see any shops that suited so they planned to stop in Enniskillen.

“We were a couple of miles outside Sligo. Tommy was leading the convoy of three bikes. James was second and I was third. We came around a small bend in the road. I had noticed there was a silver car travelling in front of us. When we came around the bend we wouldn’t have been doing 30mph. I seen Jim’s bike going down on the ground. It looked like the front end just went from under him. The bike slid across the road and out in front of an oncoming vehicle. It all happened so quickly. I don’t know what part of the bike hit the car. The car went past me and I immediately stopped. I put my bike on the stand and got off. At that stage I could see both Anne and James lying in the middle of the road.

“Jim was moving his hands, trying to get his helmet off but Anne wasn’t moving at all. I ran over to them and James was asking where Anne was. She was a couple of feet away.

“The minute I seen Anne, I knew she was dead. There was so much blood. She was lifeless. Her eyes were wide open and I knew she was dead. I didn’t touch her. James kept trying to take his helmet off and I told him to keep his arms down and that he wasn’t getting it off. Tommy came over to me. The two girls were hysterical. We tried to keep them away.

“The car that hit Anne and Jim had pulled in about 15 to 20 yards away. I could hear a girl crying and screaming so I went down to her. When I got to her, she got out. I told her that it wasn’t her fault. I gave her a hug. I could see there were kids in the car. She was in tears. A few minutes later an ambulance arrived and attended to both James and Anne. They came so quick. The guards arrived a few minutes after,” he said. Witness added that the weather was atrocious at the time of the accident. “It was hammering rain and driving conditions were very

very bad. Jim always took good care of his bike and it was his only mode of transport and he drove it every day.

“The only thing I can think of is a bend or two before the accident I had noticed a warning sign about an oil spillage but I didn’t see any spillage. It didn’t affect my driving but I can’t speak for James. I can’t understand how it happened,” he said.

Barbara Creelman in a deposition read to the inquest stated that they had stayed out to midnight and probably had five glasses of wine. The men were drinking pints but Anne didn’t drink and was having tea.

They came on to the dual carriageway into Sligo and intended stopping in the town but they missed the town and were stopped at a set of traffic lights with signs for Enniskillen. They decided to stop at a garage and forget about the shops.

They set off on the Enniskillen road after and each bike was about a car distance away from each other.

“It was raining quite heavily at the time and I remember seeing an oil spillage sign on the roadside just before we came into a left bend on the road. I thought it would be oil and water mixed because of the rain on the road and would be slippy.

“I can just remember coming up around the left bend with the traffic going both ways. I think we were around the bend and I could see traffic lights in front of us as the traffic was slowing down. I always tend to look out at the left side of Tom.

“All I can remember is seeing the bike in front appear as it was going to go in under the car that was travelling in the opposite direction. Jim and Anne were still on the bike when they impacted the front of the car on the driver’s side.

“I saw Anne’s head hit the front of the car and knew she wasn’t going to make it. Anne definitely came off the bike first after the impact. It was as if they had came off the bike backwards. Anne was lying still on the road and Jim after her down the road with his feet pointing towards her head. The bike slid off into the ditch on the right hand side of the road.

“We stopped immediately and I couldn’t get my helmet off but at that stage I had already shouted that she was dead,” he said.

Thomas Gleen, in a deposition said that as they came around a bend he saw traffic lights for road works. There was a line of traffic in front of them.

“All of a sudden I hear the brakes of a car. I looked around and saw James and Anne’s bike slide down behind a car that we had met. We got off our bike and I ran over to Anne and James. I knew right away that Anne had died. I didn’t actually see what had happened,” he said.

Zara Glenn stated she didn’t go over to Anne on the ground as she knew she was dead. She was consoling Barbara.

“I don’t drive so I don’t know the speed we were travelling at but it was slow,” she said.

Edel Haran, in her deposition stated she left her parents’ house at Gortngrelly, Glencar at 1.30pm and had three children with her in her Opel Zafira car. It was raining heavy and she was on the N16, Sligo to Manorhamilton road. She stopped in a line of traffic at the temporary lights at Castlegal.

When the lights changed to green she moved off. By the time she got to the lights on the other side the cars in front of her were gone out of sight.

“As I cam around the bend after the roadworks I saw a car and a motorbike parked at the lights. The bike was behind the car. After I passed the lights I saw something coming from the other side of the road.

“It looked like a motorbike on its side, sliding on the road. Then I felt the rear wheel of my car go over something. Then I saw something go up in the air.

“I pulled into a gate way on my left hand side of the road, put on the hazard lights and turned off the car. My children and I were very upset. I could see a body lying on the middle of the road. I stayed with my children,” she said.

Garda Hugh McCann, told the inquest he was a Forensic Collision Investigator and arrived at the scene of the accident at 3.35pm.

Following his investigation concluded that the motorcyclist had lost control of his bike.

He noted that the bike was fitted with two pannier boxes, one of which was heavier than the other and which would have made it difficult for the driver to regain control if they lost balance.

The bike was rotating as it slid along the road having come into contact with an object.

He found no evidence of contaminates on the road surface. He did three skid tests and found it had a very good grip level.

The tests were done in a car at 9pm when it was also raining.

There was no evidence of fluid or oil on the road. It was Sunday and there were no works being done at the at the time to a bridge. There was a 60kph speed zone in place due to the works. Garda McCann said he didn’t know why the oil spillage signs were put up and he didn’t know by whom. There was no evidence of the road having been gritted. There was no contamination present.

Joseph Scanlon, in a deposition to the inquest said her had been driving to Sligo and had stopped at the temporary lights. He moved off on green and as he crossed the bridge a number of cars came to a stop at the lights on the other side.

“Then I saw two motorbikes come to a stop. As I was nearly approaching the lights on the opposite side, a third motorcycle came around the bend and lost control. The bike fell on its side. Two people on the bike fell on the road. The bike came across the road towards me,” he said.

A PSV inspection of the car and the motorbike found them to be in good serviceable condition prior to the accident.

Both drivers tested negative for the presence of alcohol. After retiring briefly to consider their verdict, the jury of five men and two women returned a verdict of accidental death in accordance with the medical evidence that Ms Carson died from blunt force trauma to the head secondary to a road traffic accident.