One of those you feel might have gone either way, depending on the attitude of investigators and prosecutors etc
Taxi 'couldn't avoid' fatal collision with pedestrian in York, inquest hearshttps://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/197495 ... est-hears/A PRIVATE hire driver had no chance to avoid a pedestrian who tried to cross a city centre junction when the 'don't cross' red man was showing, an inquest heard.Uber driver Aissa Lamouri was doing about 30mph as he drove past a green light at the end of Lendal Bridge as he headed towards York station late at night, said Sgt Ken Riley of North Yorkshire Police.
His Skoda Octavia hit Eze Onyedikachi Young, 38, who was trying to cross the junction diagonally from the river side of Rougier Street towards the city walls.
Mr Lamouri said: "The passenger in the front seat was screaming, and then a bang and then brake. That is exactly what happened."
Another Uber driver Syed Shah was in Rougier Street waiting for the lights to turn green for him shortly after 2am on February 9, 2020.
In his statement he said he saw a man step into the road, and then a Skoda Octavia come down from Lendal Bridge.
"He (the pedestrian) began to run across the road, not sprinting, but faster than a walk.
"I thought the pedestrian was going to make it across and I thought he had made it across, then I heard a bang," he said.
Sgt Riley said the collision forced Mr Young onto the bonnet. He was then thrown off and hit the traffic light on the cobbled area next to the city walls.
He suffered multiple injuries and was declared dead at the scene.
Sgt Riley said his investigation including studying dashcam footage revealed that Mr Lamouri couldn't have seen Mr Young until the collision was "unavoidable".
Assistant coroner Richard Watson said crossing a junction against the red man signal at a pedestrian crossing, and diagonally, as Mr Young had done, was very dangerous.
"The situation unfortunately was made worse because because Mr Young was wearing dark clothing," he said.
He recorded a finding of death through a road traffic collision.
Mr Young, of Leeds, was a Nigerian citizen from Lagos who had been working in the city centre.
Sgt Riker said after viewing the dashcam recording, Mr Young was almost invisible as he walked towards the junction of Museum Street and Rougier Street in windy, rainy conditions, through a combination of his dark clothing and the general lighting conditions.
Because the road from Lendal Bridge was higher than Rougier Street and there was a wall between the two, neither Mr Young nor Mr Lamouri would have seen each other before they got to the junction, he said.
The inquest heard Mr Lamouri was driving a hen party from the city centre to their accommodation.
Tests on both Mr Young and Mr Lamouri revealed neither had been drinking or taking drugs.
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