News Inquest told of horror crash
An inquest heard on Friday how a woman died following a serious crash involving a car and a lorry near Glew's Garage last year.
Christine Ann Kennedy (63), of Lund, near Driffield, was the front-seat passenger of a silver Volvo S80 being driven by her husband John when their car was involved in a collision with a lorry on the A614 outside the Aire and Calder Travel Inn, on August 28.
The inquest heard statements from a number of witnesses, including one from a man driving directly behind the Volvo.
He said: "He [Mr Kennedy] started to slow down at the Peugeot garage. My assumption at the time was that he was going for petrol. He started to veer over to the right hand carriageway - for no apparent reason he started to drift. As I was watching the car, I realised a lorry was coming the other way and the impact was in a matter of seconds. It all happened so quickly. I think it was the passenger side that hit the lorry.
"There was very, very little time for the HGV to react. The car bounced a little way and I pulled onto the grass verge and called 999."
Another witness who gave help at the scene said: "I got Mr Kennedy out of the car and sat in front of him so that he couldn't see the car.
"He just said: 'I think I have done something silly' and said he had pains in his chest. He was very concerned about his wife."
In a statement read out to the court John Kennedy said: "Normally, Chris and I look after each other's driving but I wasn't aware of her saying anything. I wasn't aware of anything, especially an accident. Everything kind of faded away then went black. It didn't suddenly fade.
"The first thing I remember was someone lifting my arm to take my wristwatch off. I don't remember being put on a stretcher."
The court heard that the HGV driver had just left the M62 eastbound carriageway and was turning left at the roundabout towards Glew.s Garage when the car "came from nowhere".
"I thought: 'Is he pulling into McDonald's?' but within a split second of him not doing that, I panicked. I hit the emergency brakes," he said.
"I said to myself: 'Why isn't he stopping?' I couldn't have taken any more action."
The lorry's tachograph showed that the driver had reduced its speed from 33 mph to 20 mph before the impact.
Mrs Kennedy was airlifted to Hull Royal Infirmary, where she was treated for severe multiple injuries and underwent surgery the following day. However, she died five days after the accident, on September 2.
The cause of death was given as multiple injuries. "She would have been deeply unconscious from the moment of impact," said Dr Ian Richmond.
Mr Kennedy suffered ten broken ribs in the accident.
Other witnesses said there was nothing unusual about Mr Kennedy's driving beforehand, and described the driving conditions as being good.
Summing up, coroner Geoffrey Saul stated that the lorry driver was unable to avoid the collision with the time available to him. Neither the lorry nor the Volvo had defects likely to have contributed to the accident and there was also no evidence to suggest that the lorry driver was in any way responsible for the accident.
He also stated that Mr Kennedy was an experienced motorist driving on an unfamiliar road. He said: "It might be possible that Mr Kennedy suffered some medical episode as this incident does not have the characteristics of a sleep-related incident. It is a matter of speculation.'
Mr Saul recorded a verdict of accidental death.
The inquest heard how Mr and Mrs Kennedy met in 1980 and had travelled the world before buying a property in Lund, near Driffield, spending all their time together. The couple enjoyed a good social life and had lots of friends.
Published on 17th January 2008 in News.
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