A beloved 65-year-old great-grandmother tragically died after her out-of-control mobility scooter crashed into traffic.
Angela Carney was riding her 2005 model mobility scooter when she crashed on the A643 Westgate in Cleckheaton on September 26. She collided into a black Nissan Navara and was rushed to hospital but died from her injuries.
Following the conclusion of an inquest, a Prevention of Future Deaths report has been issued by West Yorkshire (Western) senior coroner Martin Fleming after it was found that Mrs Carney had “inadvertently placed her scooter into freewheel drive and this prevented her from braking or taking evasive action”.
She was travelling downhill at speed down the footpath on Westcliffe Road before she careered into the path of the Nissan Navara. The inquest heard the driver of the Navara was unable to avoid the smash and Mrs Carney suffered serious chest injuries and later died.
It was found that although the scooter was roadworthy, after being bought second hand from a neighbour, there was no fail-safe braking mechanism “to enable an emergency stop to take place in the event of the inadvertence of the rider.”
The tragedy happened on the A643 Westgate at the junction with Westcliffe Road
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The report says: “Before setting off (Angela) moved her scooter out of her front garden and onto the footpath on Westcliffe Road by activating the free wheel mode via a lever near the rear wheel,”, reported YorkshireLive.
“Westcliffe Road has a 4.7% downward gradient on the southerly approach to a give way junction with Westgate. Angela, contrary to the instruction manual did not take the scooter off the free wheel drive by engaging the engine with her ignition key.
“As a consequence, she was unable to stop the scooter because the brakes could only be activated by engine engagement. This resulted in the scooter proceeding down the footpath of Westcliffe Road at speed towards the junction with Westgate and directly into the path of a Nissan Navana pickup, resulting in her suffering severe injuries to which she sadly succumbed notwithstanding treatment at the hospital and died.”
Tributes have been paid to the 65-year-old
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The coroner said that he has concerns about the lack of a secondary braking system and called for The Department for Transport and Medicines &Healthcare product Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to review the “adequacy of the existing guidelines and regulations and to consider the appropriateness of fitting secondary braking systems by way of a fitted hand brake mechanism to all mobility scooters.”
He added: “It is my understanding that more recently designed and manufactured mobility scooters are manufactured with a secondary braking system by way of a fitted hand brake mechanism, I am concerned that other manufacturers may be producing scooters without such an independent braking mechanism.
“I also have a concern that there may be many other older second hand models on the second hand market that are being used, which all combined has worrying safety implications for the rider’s and members of the public.”
At the time of her death Mrs Carney’s family paid tribute saying: ““Our dear mum, also loving nana, great nana, sister and auntie was tragically taken away from us, no words can describe the devastation this has caused.
“Angela was a kind and loving soul whose door was always open to anyone; she will be sadly missed by her family and everyone that knew her. I would like to take this opportunity to thank family and friends for all the support, the passers-by who stopped to help her, and the emergency services.”