2011-11-04 - Rider Down, East Smithfield / Dock St Junction

David Sanderson
Last updated at 11:00PM, December 10 2012
A lorry driver who knocked over a cyclist was “too engrossed in a telephone conversation” at the time and then failed to put the handbrake on when she was trapped under his wheels, a court was told yesterday.
Petre Beiu had been using a hands-free mobile for ten minutes before his four-axle Lynch Haulage tipper lorry drove over Mary Bowers, a Times reporter who was cycling to work.
Witnesses described hearing “bloodcurdling screams” from Ms Bowers and seeing other people with “their hands in the air” as the incident unfolded.
Jurors at Snaresbrook Crown Court were told yesterday that Ms Bowers, 28, suffered “life-changing injuries” and is still “ill” following the incident in East London on November 4 last year.
Babatunde Alabi, for the prosecution, said Mr Beiu, 39, initially denied to police having been on the telephone at the time of the incident, but later admitted it, saying he had been too “shocked” to confess at first.
Jurors heard that Ms Bowers, on a Raleigh bike and wearing a helmet, had stopped at a red traffic light in a cycle box, up to 4 metres in front of Mr Beiu’s lorry, which was going to turn left.
Ms Bowers, who was going to travel across the busy junction, was in front of him for between 10 and 14 seconds while stationary, jurors were told.
Mr Alabi said that the driver failed to check adequately to see the cyclist in front. “The defendant did not give her sufficient time to go ahead,” Mr Alabi said. “Instead, he turned into her path . . . Although she shouted out at the time, it appears that the defendant did not hear her. He did not stop until he was alerted to some trouble by other members of the public.”
One witness, Eammon Barrett, a taxi driver, said he then saw Mr Beiu “jump out in an absolute panic”. Mr Barrett added: “Then, unbelievably, the lorry started to move forward.”
In a witness statement read to jurors, Jamie Rudkin, a van driver, said he heard a “crunching” sound and then an “almighty scream”. As he ran towards the lorry, Mr Rudkin said that he saw the vehicle continue to move and shouted at the driver to put his handbrake on. “He had gone really white,” Mr Rudkin said of Mr Beiu.
Mr Alabi said that it was not a case where there was “sustained and continued bad driving”, adding that the lorry was travelling at a maximum of 10mph when it hit Ms Bowers’s bike. He added, however: “The standard of the defendant’s driving fell far below that which would be expected.”
Mr Beiu denies one charge of dangerous driving.
The trial continues.

Link