Lorry man cleared of crash death at Luton Airport

Discussion on Advanced and Defensive Driving and training for LGV, HGV, PCV, Minibus's etc type vehicles.

Postby Standard Dave » Thu Sep 23, 2010 5:52 pm


A lorry driver accused of killing a pensioner on a crossing outside Luton Airport has been cleared by a jury.

Mary Whiting, 78, from Norwich, had just returned from a family holiday in May 2009 when she was hit by a truck being driven by Rossano Casagrande.

Mr Casagrande, 50, of Fulbridge Road, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, was found not guilty at Luton Crown Court of causing her death by careless driving.

The court heard a police expert describe it as a "tragic accident".

The jury took half an hour to reach their unanimous verdict.

The crossing was on airport owned land and did not conform to regulations that apply to public roads. It has since been modified.

The Health and Safety Executive is still carrying out investigations into the circumstances of the accident.

Mr Casagrande said he had been an HGV driver for five years and was delivering milk to Luton Airport for his employer Robert Wiseman Dairies in Northampton, a journey he had done about 20 times before May last year.

An accident investigation officer said that despite six well-placed mirrors there were still blind spots for the driver.

Pc Steven Andrews said it was his opinion that Mrs Whiting was in a blind spot when the lorry driver believed the crossing was clear and pulled slowly ahead.

Mrs Whiting decided at the same moment to step into the road, thinking the lorry was still stationary, he said.

Mr Casagrande said he agreed with the police officer's opinion that Mrs Whiting must have been in his blind spot when he pulled away.

"I have felt devastated. I left my job and have not worked since and it has caused health problems," he added.

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Postby vonhosen » Thu Sep 23, 2010 5:58 pm


If you are sufficiently aware ideally you'll see the potential problem before it moves into the blind spot.
He has been founded guilty of death by careless.
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Postby Kevin » Thu Sep 23, 2010 11:56 pm


With six mirrors, I agree that it is difficult to imagine that there will still be blind spots, but they do still exist. There'll be two mirrors on each side, one wide angle and one normal view, looking down each side of the lorry, one on the nearside door looking straight down and one, probably mounted on the nearside front upper corner of the windscreen, also looking down. Nevertheless, it is possible to approach the front of a lorry without being seen by the driver, especially on the nearside.

However, I wouldn't advocate adding more mirrors. Six mirrors is already a lot to have to scan plus looking over the right shoulder before moving off, as well as trying to assess everything that's going on in front of the lorry. By the time all the mirror and shoulder checks have been done, the situation could have changed.

The mirror that allows the driver to view directly down the front is often mounted in a way that it isn't included in the sweep of the wiper blades and it is also difficult to reach to keep clean. Consequently it is often neglected by some drivers, reducing the mirror's effectiveness. I would prefer the front of the cab to be fitted with a similar device to car parking sensors. This would allow the driver to hear if someone walked in front of the cab, regardless of which direction the driver happened to be looking at the time.
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Postby Zipper » Fri Sep 24, 2010 12:01 pm


Parking sensors at the front sound like a good idea.

When I taught in trucks the main training vehicles were all cab-over, however the boss's "pet" truck (which we weren't allowed to use for day-by-day training) was a Kenworth prime mover, a very impressive machine to drive except for it's long nose and awful view to the front.
The American style long-nose trucks are very popular with our road train operators in the outback - granted once you settle down on a long stretch the forward vision doesn't seem to be a huge problem but when you get back into built-up areas, it's a real worry.

Perhaps that long nose gives the driver a sense of protection (standard procedure at the end of a trip is to clean bugs, animals and Minis out of the grille) but it never made much sense to me to restrict the driver's forward vision like that.
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Postby Horse » Fri Sep 24, 2010 12:57 pm


Ironically, the proliferation of additional mirrors can cause blind spots of their own. Similar with the fresnel lenses which can be applied to windows.

Sensors: some HGVs already have these to cover the blind spot to the left of the cab.

In London trials are taking place of additional mirrors (aka 'Trixi' mirrors) on traffic lights poles, placed alongside the lights), in an attempt to reduce the blind spot alongside (mainly) and in front (additionally) of the HGV as there have been several fatals from cyclists getting squished by left-turning HGVs.
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Postby TiJay » Fri Sep 24, 2010 11:16 pm


Would it not be better to educate cyclists not to ride in the blind spot of an 8-tonne behemoth just to make a few seconds' progress?
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Postby vonhosen » Sat Sep 25, 2010 7:56 am


TiJay wrote:Would it not be better to educate cyclists not to ride in the blind spot of an 8-tonne behemoth just to make a few seconds' progress?

There are education programs for both cyclists & lorry drivers.

Most collisions happen because of the failings of two parties, not just one. The pedal cyclist had to get down the side of the lorry into any blind spot & would have been visible whilst doing so to a driver looking for it (after all, there probably wasn't any greater threat to be looking out for at that time).

If driver is looking & cyclist goes in there = no collision.
If driver isn't looking & cyclist doesn't go in there = no collision.
If driver isn't looking & cyclist goes in there = collision.

Don't rely on others to do the right thing for you.
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Postby Horse » Sat Sep 25, 2010 2:05 pm


There is a suggestion that law-abiding female cyclists are more likely to get caught, while maverick males will ride through the red light and be long gone.

But yes, there are plenty of ad campaigns.
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Postby jont » Sat Sep 25, 2010 4:43 pm


Horse wrote:But yes, there are plenty of ad campaigns.

Yes, it's a shame there's so much money wasted on advertising and marketing campaigns rather than some real engineering solutions :(
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Postby vonhosen » Sat Sep 25, 2010 6:07 pm


jont wrote:
Horse wrote:But yes, there are plenty of ad campaigns.

Yes, it's a shame there's so much money wasted on advertising and marketing campaigns rather than some real engineering solutions :(


It's not just advertising though

http://cms.met.police.uk/news/policy_or ... _programme
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Postby TripleS » Sun Sep 26, 2010 8:46 am


jont wrote:
Horse wrote:But yes, there are plenty of ad campaigns.

Yes, it's a shame there's so much money wasted on advertising and marketing campaigns rather than some real engineering solutions :(


Engineering solutions applied at 'problem' points on the road network (if that is what you mean, Jon) only help us at those points.

If we were to make more of an effort with road user educational campaigns, we would all cope better, wherever we go, and the need for expensive engineering remedies at specific locations would be greatly reduced.

I would have thought shifting the emphasis thus would be the thing to do, especially when there is a need to cut public spending considerably. Educational campaigns may not be cheap, but I think they could be the more cost effective option.

Best wishes all,
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Postby jont » Sun Sep 26, 2010 9:25 am


TripleS wrote:
jont wrote:
Horse wrote:But yes, there are plenty of ad campaigns.

Yes, it's a shame there's so much money wasted on advertising and marketing campaigns rather than some real engineering solutions :(


Engineering solutions applied at 'problem' points on the road network (if that is what you mean, Jon) only help us at those points.

If we were to make more of an effort with road user educational campaigns, we would all cope better, wherever we go, and the need for expensive engineering remedies at specific locations would be greatly reduced.

I would have thought shifting the emphasis thus would be the thing to do, especially when there is a need to cut public spending considerably. Educational campaigns may not be cheap, but I think they could be the more cost effective option.

Education != marketing. I guess I'm particularly pissed off and frustrated with Bristol. We're supposed to be the first "cycling city", which seems to involve rebranding council vans and putting up big banners with "Better by bike" signs, while neglecting basics like fixing potholes or making sure cycle lanes are wide enough to use safely. And that's before you get into measures that Southampton had 10 years ago such as where the road is narrowed for parking/crossings having a path through for bikes so as not to intentionally bring them into conflict with the main carriageway (example here)

Mind you, this is the same council that thinks cobbles are a good surface on a cycle path and bus stops should be immediately prior to traffic light junctions and the road narrow enough that it's not safe for a cyclist to pass the queuing traffic. Then again, it seems council policy to cause as much antagonism between different classes of road user as possible.

Chatting with a fellow cyclist around here on another forum, at one of the council meetings for the scheme - in his words it was full of little grey men pushing their own agendas, while when he asked how many cyclists were there, only 2 people put their hands up.

It seems to me that various agencies/consultancies are pocketing the money supposed to be improving things and one can't help but wonder who in the council is also involved with these companies making money from it.

Mind you, Bristol seems to have some of the most aggressive, impatient and inconsiderate drivers I've come across anywhere and I'm not sure what can be done about that.
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Postby TripleS » Sun Sep 26, 2010 5:06 pm


Hello Jon,

Bristol sounds to be grim; even more so than Scarborough, so I do sympathise. We also have badly maintained roads, and far too many traffic lights, which I'm sure have caused additional and unnecessary congestion. I think part of this arises from the fact that most of our traffic lights are combined with pedestrian crossing aids. The result is that all traffic streams at such junctions are held stationery for excessive periods. It also appears that a pedestrian crossing phase is built into the system, which means that all the traffic is stopped - even when there are no pedestrians in the vicinity. With the best will in the world, I can't see any sense in it.

Best wishes all,
Dave.
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Postby AnalogueAndy » Mon Sep 27, 2010 9:35 pm


Think I may have posted it before but excellent video produced by Hendon showing the view from the cab and the dangers cyclists face:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPkbNFt5NuY
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