Cork man, 70s, killed in crash probably not wearing seatbeat, inquest hears
A man who died when his car struck a ditch and then collided with a Bus Éireann bus was most likely not wearing a seatbelt, an inquest has heard.
John Finbarr McCarthy of Lackenacummeen near Belgooly in Co Cork was killed in the crash when his Suzuki Swift spun into the bus on November 27, 2017.
At an inquest in Bandon into the death, the bus driver, Paul Connolly, told coroner Frank O'Connell that he was driving the 226 service to Kinsale from Cork on the night in question - his second time on the route that day.
Mr Connolly, a bus driver with Bus Éireann for 16 years at that point and having never been involved in a serious incident, had just stopped in the village of Riverstick to pick up a passenger and was on a straight stretch of road at Ballinacourtha approaching a bend when he saw the lights of an approaching car.
He told the inquest that he quickly said to himself that the car was after hitting the ditch and almost immediately he realised the oncoming car was about to hit the bus.
The court heard that the car driven by Mr McCarthy, who was in his mid-seventies, had hit a metal barrier before rebounding into the road, where it hit the bus at a 45-degree angle under the passenger stairwell.
Mr Connolly and a pair of first responders who happened to be on the bus quickly checked the car. According to Mr Connolly's statement to gardaí "a man was lying strangely in the passenger seat of the car". He was the sole occupant.
The first responders attempted CPR on Mr McCarthy, who was a single man, but he was pronounced dead at 10.10pm and the first garda on the scene said he believed he died on impact. Garda forensic collision investigator Mark O'Connor told the inquest that the front of the Suzuki Swift was "severely impacted", while the passenger door of the bus was crumpled and the stairwell impacted.
Garda O'Connor said the bus had been travelling as normal and that CCTV footage from the bus showed lights filling up the screen as the car crashed into it. The court heard there was no evidence of braking by the Swift, which appears to have drifted into the bus following the collision with the barrier.
Subsequent inspections showed both vehicles had been in a roadworthy condition at the time of the incident and Garda O'Connor also said that the fact the seatbelt was operating as normal following the crash may have indicated that it had not been worn by the driver of the Swift.
Asst State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster said there was no alcohol in Mr McCarthy's system at autopsy, with some medication present in the high therapeutic range and a sleeping tablet in the high therapeutic range.
Among the multiple injuries sustained by Mr McCarthy was a severing of the main aorta, which the coroner said would be consistent with not wearing a seatbelt.
The case was heard before a jury and Mr O'Connell said there was only two verdicts open to them - a verdict of accidental death or an open verdict.
The jury, after a brief deliberation, recorded a verdict of accidental death, recorded by the coroner as having been caused by polytrauma consistent with a road traffic collision.
Mr O'Connell extended his sympathies to Mr McCarthy's family, one of whom said the bus driver was never far from their own thoughts.
