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Inquest raises speeding concerns
Jun 28, 2011, 18:00pm By Claire Wood Comments (5)
It’s emerged that a driver who collided with a cyclist on Earlham Road was found guilty of death by careless driving earlier this year.
76 year old John Rudledge died after being knocked off his bike near the junction with Alexandra Road last September.
The incident has caused local councillors to ask how speeding could be reduced along that stretch of road.
John Rudledge, a retired master craftsmen was involved in a collision with a Peugoet 306 on 27th September 2010. He’d pulled out of Alexandra Road onto Earlham Road on his bike, when he was knocked off. He died of his injuries 2 days later in the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.
The driver of the car, Rebecca Ottoway, told the inquest: “Literally, in the blink of an eye, I saw someone cycling into my lane, straight into my way.” A police officer from the Serious Collision and Investigation team calculated that she would have had 4 or 5 seconds to react, and that her car would have been travelling at between 32-43 mph, in a 30 mph zone.
Rebecca Ottoway pleaded guilty to a charge of death by careless or inconsiderate driving and was sentenced at an earlier hearing to 12 months community service and was disqualified from driving for a year.
Andrew Boswell, a Green Party councillor for Nelson ward said after the inquest: “We need more speed enforcement and need to find more ways to encourage people not to speed up. I think a flashing light( indicating cars exceeding 30mph) at the end of West Parade would help.”
The coroner, William Armstrong, expressed “his deepest sympathy to Mrs Rudledge and her family.”
Comments to “Inquest raises speeding concerns”
Donna Grant says: Jun 28, 2011, 23:23pm
I think the safest possible solution here is a push-button pedestrian crossing. Flashing lights may help a little but a ‘red light’ means “STOP” which at the moment, many motorists are failing to do.
Deb says: Jun 29, 2011, 09:05am
It would certainly help Donna. At the moment we have the absurd situation of having a crossing that is too dangerous to let your children cross the road on…
Harry Cole says: Jul 11, 2011, 13:29pm
So a killer driver will be back on the roads in a year. The whole of the Golden Triangle is plagued with idiots using residential roads as their own personal racetrack, and even when they kill someone they get a slap on the wrist. If you want to kill someone, use a car.
Susan Pearsehouse says: Jul 12, 2011, 11:35am
This tragic death raises more questions than answers. Why did the Evening News ignore the verdict? Why was Rebecca Ottoway’s disgusting attempt to blame the cyclist not challenged? Why is the sentence unbelievably lenient? The message is clear, speed as much as you like, you won’t get caught, there is no enforcement, and when the inevitable happens and you snuff a life out and tear a family apart you merely suffer 12 month’s inconvenience.
Susan Pearsehouse says: Jul 12, 2011, 13:02pm
By the way, kudos to Claire for being the only person to bother reporting this case, as far as I can see. This just makes me so mad! Where is the justice? Was Rebecca Ottoway on the way to an Israeli/Palestinian Peace Conference? Was she transporting a human liver for transplant? Or had she overslept so decided to gamble with innocent peoples’ lives in order to shave a few seconds off her commute? Live is cheap, if you want to kill someone use a car.
End quote.
Earlham Road is pretty dodgy, pinch points, traffic islands, speeding is rife and there is virtually no enforcement, even in the 20mph zones in the side streets.