A witness has described the moment he saw a car collide with a pedestrian who was knocked to the ground.
Penny Bains, 72, was making her way across Main Street, in central Brampton, just before 5.30pm on December 20 2018, when she was in collision with a Ford C-Max travelling westbound at low speed in darkness amid wet weather.
Ms Bains, who had suffered from a number of ailments, including rheumatoid arthritis, was using a puffin crossing and was thrown to the ground.
She had been wearing dark clothing and was taken to hospital but died from complications arising from injuries which included a broken leg.
Dr Roger Williams, the Ford driver and neighbour of Ms Bains, is on trial at Carlisle Crown Court.
He denies causing her death by careless driving and told police after the collision: “I just didn’t see her.”
Jurors have heard evidence from Robert Stinger, a pilot, who recalled stopping his vehicle as Ms Bains used the crossing slowly and with a crutch or stick as the lights changed to green.
Mr Stinger saw an oncoming vehicle which had slowed before the crossing.
“I thought we were just going to have to sit there until she had finished crossing,” he said. “But then the other vehicle set off and struck her.”
Mr Stinger tried to keep Ms Bains dry as she lay on the road.
He spoke to Williams, now aged 71, of Hethersgill, near Brampton.
“He said to me ‘the lights were on green’,” said Mr Stinger. “I said ‘the lights may have been on green but you can’t run somebody over’.”
CCTV footage from a nearby takeaway was played to jurors this morning. This showed Williams’ car travelling past and brake with a traffic light showing red — then red and amber — before the brake was released as it turned green.
An experienced collision reconstruction consultant examined the puffin crossing — equipped with sensors which should detect the presence of people on the road and not change the lights.
However, jurors heard he found the eastbound sensor was defective and that it was not identifying when a pedestrian was within the confines of the westbound side of the crossing.
According to an expert report read to the jury, this meant the traffic lights would change to green if a crossing pedestrian had not been detected by the eastbound sensor within six seconds.
The trial continues.
