A CORONER has called for a council to review its trial of switching off street lights to save energy following the death of a retired widow.

Richard Hulett said he “strongly urged” Buckinghamshire County Council to reconsider its energy saving policy at the conclusion of an inquest into the death of 76-year-old Margaret Beeson.

She died after being hit by a car on the A40 between Gerrards Cross and Beaconsfield in the early evening of Wednesday January 21.

But Mr Hulett said there should be no criticism of the driving of motorist Phillip Galligan, who was travelling below the speed limit.

He said: “The driver had no chance at all. Had there been more lighting, it would be very likely he would have seen Mrs Beeson.

“He was deprived of the opportunity to see her and do something about it.”

Accident investigators said Mr Galligan would only have seen Mrs Beeson from 25 to 30 metres away because of the darkness.

Mr Hulett said: “I fully understand the council's policy of switching off high maintenance and high cost, potentially polluting lights, but there have to be exceptions.

“But when we have got somebody dead in the road, it should be taken as a sign all is not well.

“At this time of the evening in the winter there are any number of potentially at-risk or vulnerable people who might be along that section of road as pedestrians who might come unstuck as a result.

“I would urge police and Buckinghamshire County Council's traffic and highways people to revisit this site.

“A fatality flags up the concerns and I would ask this is revisited to see if solutions can be found.

“The idea they cannot do this because it would spoil the trial I find slightly ludicrous.”

Mr Galligan was driving westbound along the road after picking up his 12-year-old son Charles from school in Gerrards Cross.

He told the inquest he was talking to his son and the radio was on quietly, but there was nothing else in the car that was a distraction.

“I saw a person walking directly in front of my car from the right,” he said. “I could do nothing to avoid them and the impact was almost instantaneous.

“There was less than a second between seeing something and the impact.”

Mr Hulett asked Mr Galligan: “Had there been any road lights, do you think you would have seen the lady in the road beforehand?”

The driver replied: “Possibly. Extra lighting would have helped.”

But he added: “There's quite a few problems in that area. The centre of the lane acts as a river when it rains – a big pond forms and floods the carriageway on the left.

“A bit further on there's a dump – when it rains there's a lot of debris in the road, like half bricks.”

Mr Galligan said he always took precautions when driving along that section of road.

Investigating officer PC Adrian White told the inquest: “In darkness it will take longer for a driver to interpret what's ahead of him than in the light.

“It's far easier for a pedestrian to see an oncoming vehicle than it is for a driver to see a pedestrian.”

He agreed with Mr Hulett's conclusion: “This trial period, in my opinion, does need to be be reviewed in relation to the absence of street lighting along this section of road.”

Mrs Beeson's son Stephen said the widow was suffering from a form of dementia and had probably walked to the scene of the accident from her home in Layters Green Lane, Chalfont St Peter.

He said: “She had taken to wandering, there were obviously some signs of dementia. Where the incident happened was one of her regular routes but she would have trouble recollecting what she had done and forgetting how she got there.”

He told the Bucks Free Press after the inquest: “In light of this incident, the policy needs to seriously review its policy to help prevent our tragic loss happening in the future.

“The lighting would have had a major impact on the incident.”

Mr Hulett recorded a verdict of accidental death.