Large trucks should be fitted with extra mirrors to allow drivers see the area immediately in front and below them, a jury has recommended after hearing how a man was killed because a truck driver never saw him pass in front of his tractor unit.
The jury at the inquest into the death of Mr John Ryan (94) returned a verdict of accidental death but recommended that all large trucks be fitted with mirrors at the front left corner so that the driver can see anyone walking in front of the lorry from the left when it is stopped in traffic.
Truck driver Mr Ronan McShea told how he was stopped in traffic on Main Street in Charleville, Co Cork at around 11.40 a.m. on February 7th last when he noticed a man waving at him from the side and when he lowered his window, the man told him that he had driven over a pedestrian.
Mr Ryan, from Ballyshonakin, Effin, Co Limerick died at Cork University Hospital on February 10th.
"I was stopped in the traffic for about 15 to 20 seconds and when the traffic moved off, I moved off - I moved maybe three to four metres when I saw a man - whom I now know to be Denis Wilson - stopping me. He told me I was after hitting a man," said Mr McShea.
Mr McShea told how he got out of his cab and looked under the articulated truck with Mr Wilson and they saw an elderly man, Mr Ryan, with his right leg trapped under the rear right wheel.
The emergency services were called and Mr Ryan was taken to hospital. Mr McShea said that he had all the mirrors required by the road traffic legislation to be on the truck, including three on the front left corner, but he still failed to see Mr Ryan - who was small in stature - step in front of the lorry when it was idling in neutral and stationary.
PSV inspector, Garda Michael O'Donovan, said he conducted a series of sight tests on the lorry and found that a person only became visible to the driver of the lorry when they stood four feet back from the left corner. Any closer to the lorry and the driver could not see them.
"I would strongly recommend that a hemisphere mirror would be fitted to the front left corner of all tractor units - it would give the driver a full view of any pedestrian approaching from the left - they are available," said Garda O'Donovan, adding they were not obligatory under law.
Mr Denis Wilson told how he saw Mr Ryan step off the pavement when the traffic was stopped and walk right across in front of Mr McShea's Scania truck.
He was right up against the grill and clearly not visible to the driver when the lorry started to move forward, he said.
Mr Ken McCarthy said he was stopped 50 yards away in his lorry when he saw the Scania move forward after being stopped and Mr Ryan go under the truck. Mr Ryan was below the driver's line of sight and was looking away from the truck when he was hit, he said.
Cork City Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said she would send the jury's recommendations to the Minister for Transport, Mr Cullen, while she also sympathised with Mr Ryan's family.
