Road rage driver killed himself and his wife in crash with lorry
A RETIRED civil servant with a history of controlling behaviour and aggressive driving killed his wife and himself after a ‘‘belligerent’’ overtaking manoeuvre on the A59 went wrong and he crashed into a 26-tonne lorry.
Martin Carroll, 67, was driving his wife Jean, 76, from their home in Tadcaster to a spa hotel in the Lake District when he initiated an “extraordinary sequence of driving” as they headed towards
Knaresborough on the morning of November 11, 2019, an inquest heard.
With no known provocation, Mr Carroll twice rammed his Mercedes-Benz estate into the back of a car driven by an accountant doing the school run. He then left his lane and overtook several more vehicles at high speed on the wrong side of the road, giving no indication he intended to slow down or pull back in before he collided almost headon with a Scania lorry travelling in the opposite direction. The couple were killed instantly.
The inquest included evidence from Mrs Carroll’s daughter, Lynne Garnett, who said her stepfather had poor relationships with his wife’s family and was “controlling” towards her.
“She seemed content in her life with its rigid structure. When I visited them I would take my daughter, but she struggled with Martin and he didn’t like her. He would often sulk like a petulant child.
“The last time I was in a car with Martin was in 2018. He had an imperious and superior manner, and a dismissive attitude to other drivers. He was aggressive, impatient, over-confident and easily wound up. The marriage was volatile – even something like making toast was a structured event for Martin.”
Several drivers who were travelling in the same direction as the
Carrolls on the stretch between Flaxby and Goldsborough gave evidence, with all agreeing that he had “floored it” after overtaking their cars and seemed to be deliberately driving with the intention of causing a collision.
Forensic collision investigator Traffic Constable Paul Harris confirmed that ‘‘gouge marks’’ on the lorry indicated that Mr Carroll had tried to swerve to his left at the last second to return to his lane.
“I think this was a probable attempt to get back into an apparent gap – the angle suggests he planned on returning to the other lane. Had it been a deliberate act, he would have struck the HGV in a more direct manner and the front end would have been crushed beneath the cab. The nearside of the car was still intact. It was ill judged and belligerent.”
Recording a verdict of death in a road traffic collision for Mr and Mrs Carroll, assistant coroner John Broadbridge said that it seemed “wholly inappropriate” to describe the incident as accidental, but there was not enough evidence to suggest Mr Carroll had intended to end his own life.
He had an imperious and superior manner, and a dismissive attitude. Jean Carroll’s daughter, Lynne Garnett.