Taxi Driver Online

Inverness taxi driver may have been unwell before fatal crash near Ardgay

https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/new ... sh-176138/

An Inverness taxi driver may have suffered a “medical episode” moments before a fatal crash a sheriff has said.

Evan Cameron (63) was alone in his Volvo V40 car when it crashed through a bridge parapet on the B9176 Struie road near Ardgay and fell on to rocks below on June 5 last year.

Mr Cameron was pronounced dead at the scene and a post-mortem report showed he was suffering from emphysema.


Bridge on the Struie in Ross-shire where Evan Cameron was killed after his vehicle went through the barrier (Image: Press and Journal)

Set out within a fatal accident inquiry report published this week it speculated that a narrowing of the arteries as a result of this condition could have caused chest pain, or that Mr Cameron might have suffered a mini stroke.

The inquiry also heard about an episode on April 28, 2016 when police found Mr Cameron slumped in his car outside a supermarket car park and called an ambulance.

Examinations at Raigmore Hospital found nothing untoward and though police informed the DVLA that Mr Cameron had suffered a suspected stroke a further examination by his GP also did not reveal any medical difficulties.

Mr Cameron suffered severe head and chest injuries as a result of the accident and the official cause of death was noted as “multiple injuries due to (or as a consequence of) car collision with bridge parapet.”

In his determination, Sheriff Christopher Dickson said that “whilst it was possible” Mr Cameron had suffered “some sort of medical episode” it was the injuries he had sustained in the accident that had proved fatal.

He said: "At the outset of the inquiry I extended my condolences to Mr Cameron's family. I was joined in those condolences by the procurator fiscal.

"I wish to formally repeat my condolences to Mr Cameron's family in this determination."

Interesting, particularly in view of the Harry Clarke bin lorry incident in Glasgow a couple of years earlier:



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Glas ... orry_crash

slight difference the bin lorry driver had kept quiet about it this driver had been checked out and nothing wrong found

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Indeed, but you'd think they'd be ultra-cautious about that kind of thing coming so soon after the bin lorry case.

Even if doctors found nothing wrong there was obviously something amiss, and presumably vindicated by what eventually happened. Police obviously thought that there was something going on, but the healthcare professionals missed it, which is presumably why DVLA didn't revoke his licence.

No mention of whether the council were involved in any way - of course, the DVLA would just treat the driver as an ordinary member of the public, while the council would have looked at things from the taxi angle, and maybe would have regarded the earlier episode as unexplained, and drawn conclusions accordingly.

Not saying what's right or wrong here, or whether it would have been legal to refuse a cab licence on the evidence available, just that it's an interesting case with obvious parallels to the Harry Clarke thing, if not identical parallels.

my cleaning lady's 3rd husband died in identical circumstances he suffered a blackout at the wheels of his taxi and crashed into a wall at 30MPH and was killed

prior to that apart from a fairly unhealthy lifestyle there was no reason to think there was a problem

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

I suppose we should be grateful no one else was involved in this incident.

I also wonder how many similar incidences like this there would be if we didn't have regular medicals.

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IDFIMH