No emergency brake marks at bus death scene, court told
The jury in the trial of a bus driver accused of dangerous driving causing the deaths of five people in Dublin city centre three years ago has heard there were no marks to indicate emergency braking either before or after impact at the scene.
Garda Tony Kelly also said that, given the maximum reaction time to a hazard on the road of 2.2 seconds, there was still time for the driver to make a decision before his bus made its first impact with a lamppost.
He was giving evidence on day six of the trial of Kenneth Henvey (aged 51) of Whitethorn Crescent, Palmerstown, Dublin, who has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to dangerous driving causing the deaths of two men and three women at Wellington Quay on February 21, 2004.
Gda Kelly, of the Regional Traffic Division, examined the scene of the accident and said that from a visual inspection the road surface was clear from contaminants and conditions on the day were dry and clear with very good visibility.
The jury earlier heard that a number 66 bus pulled in some distance from the kerb in front of Mr Henvey's parked bus.
A crowd of up to 30 people moved forward to board the 66 bus when Mr Henvey's bus mounted the pavement and drove up the inside of the 66, hitting the people waiting to board it.
Gda Kelly said Mr Henvey's bus had been stationary 7.5 metres behind the 66 bus. He said he was satisfied that Mr Henvey's bus must have moved forward initially, rather than immediately veering left.
Gda Kelly told Patrick McGrath BL (with Thomas O'Connell SC), prosecuting, that if the bus had immediately moved to the left it would have damaged the 25A bus stop. It had not done so and had mounted the pavement six metres from the 25A bus stop.
Gda Kelly said tests were carried out with the actual bus on Wellington Quay on March 7, 2004, to measure the speed of the bus over the relevant distance. They did not take account of the bus mounting the pavement or hitting any objects or people.
He said Mr Henvey's bus travelled a total distance of 28.8 metres. When tested, the bus started from stationary with the hand brake on. When full acceleration was applied and the hand braked was released the bus took an average time of 8.63 seconds to travel the total distance.
The tests revealed that on average it took 3.05 seconds to reach a lamppost that Mr Henvey's bus hit before it came into contact with the 66 bus.
Gda Kelly said that published research indicated reaction times to hazards on the roads were between 1.3 and 2.2 seconds. He said this covered the time a driver took to perceive a hazard, decide what to do and take action.
He said he would have expected the maximum reaction time to apply in this case and that there was still time for the driver to reach a decision before reaching the lamppost.
He agreed with Patrick Gageby SC (with David Burke BL), defending, that he worked on the assumption that the bus behaved in tests in the same manner as it did during the incident.
Gda Kelly told Mr Gageby that if the bus had experienced acceleration at 2.33 times its maximum then the time taken to travel from a stationary position to the lamppost was 2.0 seconds.
Gda Kelly said that further tests showed that without the application of acceleration or steering the bus did not mount the kerb.
Terence Baker from Volvo, the manufacturers of Dublin Bus engines, agreed with Mr Gageby that he was aware of "other cases of power surges in Ireland" and that statistical data of the type taken from an electronic unit on Mr Henvey's bus had not previously been used in Irish courts.
He said the statistical data was available on seven-litre engines made since 2000 and was usually used in engine development.
The hearing continues before Judge Michael White and a jury of four women and eight men.
