A lorry driver accused of killing a woman with the stabilising outrigger leg of his vehicle would have had a minimum of 66 seconds to check his mirrors to see that it was extended over the pavement.
The heavy piece of metal struck 26-year-old Inverness nursery teacher Chloe Morrison on the back, propelling her around 35 metres along the pavement of the A82 just outside Drumnadrochit on October 25, 2019.
John O’Donnell, 52, from Inverurie, has denied causing her death by driving a lorry dangerously and is standing trial at the High Court in Inverness.
Ms Morrison, who was with her mother at the time, died from multiple fractures.
O’Donnell accepts he was the driver at the time of the tragedy but denies driving dangerously by not checking his mirrors frequently and at excessive speed.
The trial had earlier been told that the insecure outrigger that struck Ms Morrison could have become dislodged, extended and locked while taking a sharp bend.
Police collision investigator David Housby told the trial there was a 90-degree bend 0.9 miles from the site of the collision.
He added that at a maximum speed of 49mph – the speed at which O’Donnell was driving when Ms Morrison was hit – O’Donnell had a minimum of 1 minute 6.12 seconds to be able to see the extended outrigger in his nearside mirror.
Collision investigator gives evidence
Police collision investigator David Housby confirmed CCTV footage collected by colleague PC William Jones showed the outrigger leg not properly stowed as the lorry entered Drumnadrochit.
It also showed the lorry passing another pedestrian, although the leg appeared to be only over the road and not the pavement.
Asked by defence QC Tony Graham if he checked the lights bar on a police vehicle roof every time he got into it, PC Housby said he didn’t.
He agreed that he assumed that he had been given a vehicle fit for purpose.
But he said he would check it from now on.
Both he and PC Jones confirmed that no roadside furniture like signs, traffic lights etc had been damaged at any point on the route O’Donnell took from Skye to the collision scene.
However, PC Jones told the defence counsel: “I wouldn’t take out a vehicle without learning everything about it and making sure everything was safe and secure.”
Driving from Skye to Oldmeldrum
He was travelling from Kilmuir Cemetery on the Isle of Skye back to his employer’s base in Oldmeldrum after delivering ducts for fibre optic cabling.
The jury was told that he had only started work with Glenevin Construction a few days earlier.
It’s alleged that O’Donnell unlocked and used the “outrigger legs” on the loader of the HGV and that he repeatedly failed to use his wing mirrors to see that one leg was “insecure”.
It’s also claimed that one of the legs was “protruding” and almost hit someone on the A82 at Drumnadrochit prior to ending up in a locked position and fully extended over the pavement, killing Ms Morrison.
The trial, before judge Lord Stuart, continues
