Man with frosty windscreen jailed for fatal accident

Court: Driver did not spot pedestrian on crossing

A driver who killed a doctor after he failed to clear frost from his car windscreen has been jailed.

Alexander Fitzgerald, 26, did not see Jasjot Singhota, 30, on a zebra crossing in Tulse Hill, south-east London, and ran her over.

He was driving a Ford Fiesta with a frosty windscreen when the accident happened on January 25 2017.

Dr Singhota, who worked for Guy’s and St Thomas’s NHS Foundation Trust, died in hospital the next day from a traumatic brain injury.

Police revealed today that on Friday at Kingston Crown Court Fitzgerald had been jailed for 10 months and banned from driving for 23 months.

University student Fitzgerald, of Selwood Road, Essex, previously admitted causing death by careless driving and causing death by driving uninsured.

Dr Singhota’s sister, Neha Santasalo, said the sentence “provides closure allowing us to focus on our sister, her life and all that she achieved”.

Detective Constable Sejal Unadkat, who led the investigation, said the death of Dr Singhota “could have been avoided entirely”.

Fitzgerald’s father, Gary Fitzgerald, 54, pleaded guilty to permitting the use of a motor vehicle with no insurance at Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court in May last year.

He was given eight penalty points, a £250 fine and ordered to pay a victim surcharge and costs.

There were 164 casualties from crashes on Britain’s roads in 2017 when a driver’s visibility was impaired due to a frosted, dirty or scratched windscreen or visor, Department for Transport figures show.

One in eight respondents to an AA survey admitted not fully clearing icy windscreens before driving.

LOCKED UP: Alexander Fitzgerald was given 10 months