Inquest verdict on motorway tragedy driver

A driver whose car veered off the M54 was killed when she was hit by two cars and a lorry as she walked on to the carriageway, an inquest heard.

Christine Wallace had had suicidal thoughts but the hearing was told her doctor did not believe she had shown signs of wanting to kill herself.

The 51-year-old, of East Beeches, Coven, South Staffordshire, was driving on the motorway between junctions two for Coven and three for Albrighton, when her car veered off the road and hit a hedge.

She climbed from the car and walked on to the carriageway — and was hit by the cars and the lorry.

At her inquest at Cannock Coronor's Court yesterday, driver Colin Geenes, of Wallingford, Oxfordshire said he was travelling from Coventry to Telford at around 7am on December 5 when he heard a loud bang and realised he had hit something.

Mr Geenes said he did not see what he had hit, and it was only when he pulled over on to the hard shoulder that another motorist said it was a body.

He witnessed another vehicle hit the body and that car then rolling on to the hard shoulder.

Pc Colin Dearden, a collision investigator, told the court that Mrs Wallace was standing upright when she was hit by the first car.

He said her car had been off the main carriageway and had hit a hedge, where the airbags inflated, but it didn't look as if she had been wearing her seatbelt.

He told the inquest that he could not establish why Mrs Wallace's car had gone off the road or at what time.

Pc Alan Gallimore, of the Central Motorway Police, said they did not know where Mrs Wallace was heading or what time she left the house.

He also said that as her car was in the hedge, other vehicles could not have been warned by her presence.

"All her belongings in respect of phone, handbag and purse were at home. There were no personal belongings on her at the time," he added.

The inquest was told Mrs Wallace had previously been seen by a mental health trust but not for at least two years, although she had recently gone to her doctor with symptoms of anxiety.

In a retrospective report, her doctor said they did not believe she was showing suicidal tenancies, although a diary entry had shown she had suicidal thoughts.

South Staffordshire Coroner Andrew Haigh said Mrs Wallace's death was under "tragic circumstances" and there was a possibility she had "dozed off to sleep" as she was driving. He recorded a narrative verdict.

"She walked on to the M54 and was struck by several vehicles," he said.