Smart M-way manslaughter?
Roads quango could face charges over death of gran who left her stranded car
HIGHWAYS england could face manslaughter charges after a grandmother was killed in an accident on a smart motorway.
A coroner investigating the death of Nargis Begum, 62, has said she is considering referring the matter to the Crown Prosecution Service in what would be a landmark case.
Mrs Begum was being driven by her husband Mohammed Bashir, 67, down a stretch of smart motorway when they broke down.
Smart motorways are so called because they use measures such as variable speed limits to control congestion and, controversially, there is no hard shoulder.
Drivers who get into difficulties must try to stop in special emergency refuge lay-bys.
If that is not possible they are advised to get out of their cars for the relative safety of the verge.
Mrs Begum, who had five children and nine grandchildren, left her Nissan Qashqai on the M1 in South Yorkshire, near Woodhall Services, to wait for help but another car hit the vehicle, sending it ploughing into her.
Yesterday a pre-inquest review heard that warning signs on the motorway had not been activated in time to stop drivers entering the lane where the couple had broken down.
Coroner Nicola Mundy, sitting in Doncaster, heard that 16 minutes and 21 seconds elapsed between the Nissan breaking down and the collision, and it took a further six minutes and 15 seconds before warning signs were activated.
The coroner said: ‘I want to know why, essentially. It’s as simple as that.’ Previously, the CPS
‘Warning signs not activated’
decided against prosecuting the driver of the car that crashed into the Nissan in September 2018.
The coroner said one witness had claimed the car was travelling at about 90mph. Further evidence suggested that 153 other vehicles, including lorries, had managed to safely negotiate past the stranded car. She also referred to a case involving the death of two men on a smart stretch of the M1 further north, near Sheffield.
Miss Mundy said she was considering whether to adjourn the inquest to make a referral to the CPS about any potential homicide charges. She said this included whether Highways england had a case to answer for either corporate manslaughter or gross negligence manslaughter.
The coroner said the inquest would be an Article Two case, meaning it will consider the state’s responsibility to preserve the right to life. A further pre- inquest review is set for February 11.
edmund King, president of the AA which is campaigning for more safety features on smart motorways, said: ‘The AA last year revealed that on average it took 17 minutes and one second for a vehicle to be spotted broken down or stopped in a live lane.’