Worn tyres on Garda vehicle factor in fatal crash

A Garda patrol car that careered out of control and hit a pensioner who later died has been described at an inquest as "an accident waiting to happen".

Worn tyres on the patrol car were a contributing factor in the Dublin crash, gardaí and independent engineers told the court.

However, the vehicle's tyre tread depth did meet the legal minimum depth.

"The tyres were legal but in a modern sense they were substandard," said John Nash, of J E Nash consultant engineers, who carried out an independent investigation into the accident.

The minimum legal tyre tread depth is 1.6mm. The tread depth of one tyre measured 1.6mm while the other three were slightly above this.

However, Ford, BMW and Mercedes-Benz all recommend that tyre tread depth should not go below 3mm for optimum safety and performance. The patrol car involved in the accident was a Ford Mondeo. "I'm at a loss as to why the tyre tread depth was allowed to reach such a dangerous level . . . It was an accident waiting to happen," said Colm O'Connell, who carried out a mechanical inspection of the car in conjunction with Mr Nash.

Mary Seavers (74) Farmhill Park, Goatstown, Dublin, died in Beaumont hospital on June 15th, 2005, three weeks after she was hit by the car while she waited at a bus stop in Clonskeagh.

Garda Adrian Tucker, public service vehicle inspector at Dublin Castle, told the court that the condition of the tyres "was one of a number of factors in the accident". He found the vehicle "generally in good mechanical condition with no defects" and that the driver of any patrol car "must take responsibility for the condition of their cars".

Mr Nash said the condition of the road; wet weather and the condition of the tyres were all contributing factors in the accident.

"In my opinion, the driver would have had a great deal of difficulty trying to hold the car on the road," he said.

The bend on the Clonskeagh road where the accident occurred was "very deceptive", he said, and the car "aquaplaned" out of control and crashed into the bus stop where Ms Seavers stood on the opposite side of the road.

However, a Garda investigation into the accident found that speed was the sole reason for the patrol car losing control.

"It had to have exceeded the maximum safe speed of the bend which was 70kph," Sgt Colm Finn from the forensic reconstruction unit told the court.

He added that following skid tests on the road, he did not believe wet conditions were a factor in the accident. The Garda patrol car had been serviced one month before the accident but clocked up almost 5,000 miles in the following four weeks.

Lionel Young, a mechanic at Winfield Motors in Dublin, carried out the service and said the tyres were in roadworthy condition at that time. He added that 5,000 miles would have had a negative effect on the tyres.

In December, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) decided that no criminal proceedings should be brought in relation to the death of Ms Seavers.

Garda Niamh Seberry from Donnybrook station was the driver of the car and was accompanied by front-seat passenger Garda Lisa Healy. A Garda mix-up of addresses led to the dispatch of the patrol car to Beech Hill Avenue in Clonskeagh instead of Beechwood Avenue in Ranelagh.

Witnesses previously told the court that the patrol car spun out of control and fishtailed across the road when travelling at a speed of up to 70mph. The inquest resumes this morning.