The grieving mother of a Canterbury student fatally struck by a truck when cycling through a roadworks site says negligent traffic management cut her daughter’s life short.
Fyfa Dawson, 19, was travelling to her hairdressing course in Christchurch on the morning of October 30, 2019.
When travelling through a 30 km/h traffic management site on Springs Road, near Prebbleton, she was hit and killed by a left-turning concrete truck.
Coroner Ruth Thomas’ 22-page report, released on Thursday, has called for changes to traffic management planning and improved safety standards for heavy vehicles.
In her findings, the coroner found errors in the “vehicle-centric” design and implementation of the temporary traffic management plan largely caused the crash.
Dawson was an experienced cyclist, who regularly travelled on Springs Road.
In 2017 she spent three months in the United States, biking solo through the Rocky Mountains.
She returned to the US the following year, cycling about 8000 kilometres from the Rockies, across to the Pacific Northwest and down the country’s west coast.
Speaking to RNZ, her mother Sarah Campbell said her daughter was an “adventurous spirit”.
“It’s very ironic that she did all of that in America and then came home and was killed less than three kilometres from her home,” she said.
“I’m grateful she had the adventure, she fit a lot of life into 19 years.”
Traffic management on Springs Road at the time was part of construction of the Christchurch Southern Motorway.
The coroner’s report said there was no gate controller in place, safely managing pedestrians and cyclists through one of the work site’s access points.
“I find that if a gate controller had been stationed at [the gate] on October 30, this would have reduced the risk of Ms Dawson’s death.”
Campbell said this proved to be a critical mistake.
“Clearly if there had been a stop/go person at that site she wouldn’t have died. They dropped the ball,” she said.
“They didn’t make a safe entrance-exit site. I guess I’m aware that we’re human and there’s always going to be mistakes made.”
The tragedy had left the family with an indescribable grief, Campbell said.
“My daughter lost her life. She was 19, so there’s 60 years of life that she doesn’t get to experience. End of her story.
“Her siblings lost a sister, her parents have lost a daughter, a lot of people have lost a friend. Because of negligence.”
Previously a stop/go gate controller had stopped cyclists or pedestrians from crossing when vehicles were entering or exiting the worksite.
The report said the constuction companies removed the gate controller due to a drop in the volume of vehicles accessing the worksite.
Dawson biked along a pedestrian path that morning, but the location of this path meant she was beyond the truck driver’s visibility.
A designated cycle-way was also blocked by road cones.
Cyclists were expected to merge with live traffic at this point but there were no signs informing them of this, the report said.
WorkSafe laid health and safety charges against contractors Downer and McConell Dowell.
These were later withdrawn after an agreement, known as an enforceable undertaking, was reached out of court.
This included a reparation payment to Dawson’s family and a commitment by contractors to mitigate traffic management risks.
Dawson was not wearing hi-viz and had earpods in at the time of the crash.
The coroner found no evidence to suggest clothing would have changed the outcome, nor evidence that Dawson was listening to anything at the time.
Police also did not charge the truck driver as he could not see Dawson at the time.
Coroner Thomas offered four recommendations in her report.
These includes traffic management companies using gate controllers where appropriate, making use of advanced technologies like sensors to warn motorists of cyclists and changes to heavy vehicles specifications.
She also suggested that the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) provide truck drivers with extra mirrors to give them a wide-angle view.
Government should adopt recommendations
Construction companies Downer and McConnell Dowell issued a joint statement in response to the coroner’s findings.
They said they had worked with other industry partners to improve safety for vulnerable road users around roadworks.
“Through the enforceable undertakings both Downer and McConnell Dowell have completed other initiatives, we have aimed to go beyond compliance and support lasting improvements across the industry.
“This work was considered and acknowledged by Coroner Thomas as part of her findings and formed the basis of two of her recommendations.”
The firms said they hoped the government and industry would take up the coroner’s recommendations.
“We remain committed to learning from this tragic event and to continuing the implementation of measures that enhance safety through risk-based approaches and by supporting the use of emerging safety technologies and standards to deliver safer outcomes for all road users.”
In a statement, NZTA said it had accepted three of the coroner’s four recommendations.
“We support further consideration of the fourth recommendation relating to heavy vehicle standards and will work with the Ministry of Transport on next steps,” a spokesperson said.
The agency said it had begun introducing changes to improve safety with “a risk-based approach” to temporary traffic management around the country.
rnz.co.nz
