Richard Dawson successfully defended a lorry driver who ran over a pedestrian who sought to cross in front of his lorry in stop-start traffic.

JM, who was charged with causing death by careless driving, was found not guilty by the Jury by unanimous verdict.

The pedestrian, a qualified bus driver, had been attempting to use a pedestrian crossing to return to his depot for his break. With traffic lights in his favour, the lorry had pulled across the pedestrian crossing but had then become blocked by queuing traffic ahead. In the short period the lorry was blocking the crossing, the lights turned in favour of the pedestrian to cross the road. Blocked by the lorry, he instead walked up the pavement and crossed in front of the lorry.

At trial, Richard was able to demonstrate that because of the positioning of the pedestrian, he would have been in a blind spot for the lorry driver at all times; at no point would he have been visible in the Class V side close proximity mirror and he would not have been visible in the Class VI front close proximity mirror until the lorry had already started to move, by which time mirror checks would have concluded. On that basis, the lorry driver would not have been aware of the pedestrian before committing to the manoeuvre to pull forward off the pedestrian crossing; by which point, tragically, collision was inevitable.

Furthermore, Richard was able to show that despite the green man having been showing at the pedestrian crossing, by the time the pedestrian stepped off the pavement to cross in front of the cab of the lorry, the green man had again turned red, indicating that the pedestrian should not attempt to cross.

Richard was instructed by Russell Hall at Kennedys.

Richard Dawson is an expert trial lawyer, specialising in road traffic law, defending drivers charged with offences arising out of catastrophic or fatal accidents.

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