Driver in crash that killed five teenage friends skidded on bend
FIVE teenagers died in a horrific car crash after the driver lost control while speeding through fog, an inquest heard yesterday.
Bartosz Bortniczak, 18, was driving at 73mph in a 60mph zone when his car skidded on a bend. It was then hit sideon by another car that was coming the other way.
The collision left a scene of carnage on the A630 near Conisbrough, South Yorkshire. Mr Bortniczak was killed along with passengers Blake Cairns, 16, Jordanna Goodwin, 16, Megan Storey, 16, and Arpad Kore, 18.
The passengers were all sixthformers at the same local school and warehouse worker Mr Bortniczak was a former pupil.
‘I looked around and just saw flashing lights,’ said Jonathan Earp, who was in the car ahead of Mr Bortniczak’s Toyota Corolla. He described hearing two ‘loud bangs’, before ‘screaming’ at his driver to turn round.
‘A high price was paid’
However the Corolla was too mangled for them to open the doors and reach anyone inside. Recording accidental death verdicts, coroner Nicola Mundy told the inquest in Doncaster that an error – rather than reckless driving – was to blame for the crash.
‘It was most tragic – five young people losing their lives in these circumstances,’ she said. ‘I do not think there were any signs of recklessness. It was a mistake and a high price was paid for it.’
Accident investigator PC Adrian Burgoyne said a recording device fitted to the Corolla showed it travelling 13mph over the 60mph speed limit when in crashed in November last year.
However his team decided that the car probably skidded because the inexperienced driver – who had passed his test just six months earlier – took his foot off the accelerator as he rounded the bend.
Gary Ward, 45, was driving the Seat Leon which hit the teenagers’ vehicle and said: ‘It was very thick fog and drizzle that night. All I remember is the Corolla wasn’t there one minute and was the next.
‘Suddenly there was a car coming towards me, sideways on. The headlights were pointing to my left. I could see the tail lights and the rear end was closer to me than the front of the car. Everything happened so fast.’
Mr Ward suffered multiple injuries, including a broken leg.
The court heard there had been an investigation into whether Mr Bortniczak had been racing with the car in front, which was being driven by Mr Earp’s friend Ben York. Mr York, 21, had been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving, and one witness said he saw two vehicles setting off from traffic lights ‘ like a dragster start’. However Mr York was never prosecuted, and the coroner said: ‘I do not think there’s evidence of them racing.’
She also recommended the speed limit on the corner be reduced to 40mph.