Driver in fatal car crash jailed

AN INEXPERIENCED driver who knocked down and killed a 41-year-old Halifax man on a pedestrian crossing and then drove off in panic has been jailed for 32 months

Hamzah Khan, now 21, pleaded guilty at Bradford Crown Court to causing the death of Robert Provis by dangerous driving following the fatal collision back on September 29, 2018.

Khan, then aged 20, had held a driving licence for five months and his barrister Tom Gent told the court that his client had only been driving regularly for about a month before the offence.

Prosecutor Michael Smith described how Mr Provis had left his father’s home that night and was on his way to his sister’s when he was hit by the Renault Megane at a major junction on Aachen Way in Halifax.

Mr Smith said the road had a 30mph limit, but Khan had been driving his cousin’s Megane at about 46mph when he went through a red light at the crossing.

The court heard that another car had already stopped for the red light at the crossing and although Mr Provis himself had started cross before the “green man” was illuminated he would have a reasonable expectation that he would not be struck by another vehicle.

Mr Smith submitted that the fault lay “completely and overwhelming” with the defendant who drove off after the collision despite the significant damage to his vehicle.

Khan, of Spring Hall Lane, Halifax, abandoned the Megane about a mile away, but he returned to the scene of the collision and accepted being the driver involved.

In a later police interview Khan claimed that he had panicked in the aftermath and expressed sympathy for the deceased’s family.

Khan was also banned from driving for three years and four months and ordered to take an extended re-test.

Khan claimed he panicked in the aftermath and expressed sympathy for the family.