How To Claim
Contact us at claim@roadtrafficaccidents.net or fill out the form and a specialist will call you back.
Latest Traffic Reports
- On the m25 anti-clockwise entry slip at junction j10 , there are currently delays of 10 mins due to an accident closing one lane. normal traffic conditions expected from 4:30 pm.
- On the m40 southbound between junctions j12 and j11, minor delays are possible due to a broken down vehicle closing one lane. normal traffic conditions expected from 3:30 pm.
- On the m62 eastbound between junctions j23 and j24, there are currently delays of 15 mins caused by congestion due to an accident closing one lane at junction j24. normal traffic conditions expected from 3:15 pm.
Scooter death driver ‘inhumane’
A mobility scooter driver who fled the scene of a crash which led to the death of an elderly woman acted inhumanely, a coroner has said.
Barbara French, 84, suffered a broken hip when she was struck by the scooter in Sunderland last May. She developed bronchopneumonia and died in hospital.
The driver said she was going to get help, but fled and has not been caught.
Recording a verdict of accidental death, Coroner Derek Winter said the culprit should have been more honest.
Mrs French was struck a glancing blow by the scooter as she was crossing Toward Road in the city on 14 May 2008.
Det Ch Insp Andrew Potts, of Northumbria Police, told the inquest at Sunderland Civic Centre: “Witnesses said Mrs French was waiting by the side of the road when the mobility scooter passed her from behind and a parcel being carried by the rider hit her a glancing blow on the back of the legs.
“The person riding the scooter stopped, came across and said they were going to get some help, never to return.”
An extensive police investigation and media appeal for witnesses failed to identify the culprit.
One woman, Marie Clarke, was interviewed but denied having been involved, and did not match witness descriptions of the driver.
‘Causal link’
Mrs Clarke told the inquest: “I was brought up by my grandmother and there is no way I could leave an old lady crying in the road.”
Mr Winter, the Sunderland Coroner, said there was a causal link between the accident and Mrs French’s death.
He said: “Motorised scooters have given a freedom to those who require them that they did not previously enjoy.
“With that in mind it is for the government to determine whether regulation is required for their use, the competencies of those that drive them, as well as compulsory insurance.
“The mischief in this case has been in the failure of the driver to recognise the significance of the incident and to act in a more humane and honest way.”