Thousands of us travel in our vehicles everyday; a lot of us say we wouldn’t be able to cope without them. We use them for both work and social use. We are all fully aware that the slightest mistake when driving can cause an accident, and in the most unfortunate circumstances, it can even result in fatalities.
The Sheffield Star revealed a court report of a woman whom has been cleared of causing the death of a motorist who swerved to avoid a bed base which fell from the roof of her car. Liza Brothers, aged 41, tried to secure the bed base with an old washing line, jurors at Sheffield Crown Court heard.
The seamstress, who was driving to a tip on Greaves Lane, High Green, with her aunt Diane Foxton, told the court she heard a “whooshing” noise as the base slid off her Vauxhall Vectra. Another motorist, Helen Denton, also 41, of Walders Avenue, Hillsborough, Sheffield, was killed instantly after she lost control of her Peugeot trying to avoid the bed base on the A61 Westwood New Road, near Tankersley, and ploughed into an oncoming vehicle.
Following two-and-a-quarter hours of deliberations, the jury returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty.
They cleared Ms Brothers of causing death by dangerous driving and of causing death by careless driving. Judge Peter Kelson QC also ordered a not guilty verdict on a charge of causing a danger to other road users.
Garry Bright, the father of Helen’s partner Darren Bright, told The Star: “We don’t think there’s any justice whatsoever. If that bed had not been on top of that car Helen would be alive today.”
Judge Kelson said the fatal crash, which happened last December, was a “completely tragic accident for which nobody was to blame“.
