Flooded road led to fatal crash (From Bucks Free Press)

Flooded road at Chalfont St Peter caused fatal crash

7:15pm Wednesday 6th October 2010 in News By Andy Carswell

Elaine Stacey

A ROAD flooded to depths of more than five inches after drains were not cleared for nearly a year led to a car crash that claimed the life of a popular teacher, a coroner ruled today.

Elaine Stacey, 23, died in hospital a week after being involved in the smash on the A413 near Chalfont St Peter on February 28.

An inquest heard her car was hit by another vehicle which crossed the road's central reservation when it lost control after entering standing water that stretched up to 70 metres along the carriageway.

Miss Stacey's father, Ray, told the inquest the stretch of road where the accident happened was often flooded and had standing water on it when he drove along it earlier in the day.

The inquest at Wycombe Magistrates' Court heard the drains and gullies had last been cleared at the end of the previous March.

Eric Meek, Group Operations Manager for Transport for Buckinghamshire, said it is usually cleared once a year – but the unusually bad weather this winter had caused problems.

He told the inquest: “In normal circumstances the standard county council routine of once a year [clearing] is enough to cope. The amount of water and snow that came down over the winter has blocked them up completely here.”

He added: “It's not a known problem flooding site. There are some along that stretch of road, but that wasn't a particular problem site we had prior knowledge of.”

Mr Meek said the council had got behind with gully clearing due to the bad winter weather.

“All the machines were frozen solid,” he said. “We weren't able to use them in January. All the resources were out dealing with the ice and snow.”

Mr Stacey asked him if he was happy with the road surface and drainage. Mr Meek replied that he was, adding the system was being reviewed so some roads may have their drains cleared more regularly.

Mr Stacey was asked if he had complained to the council about the flooding on the A413 on February 28.

He said he had not, but added: “Does that not indicate to you why the general public don't bother reporting it? It's been flooding for years and Bucks County Council have never resolved the issue. When a warning sign goes up, it stays there for days.”

The inquest heard a black Ford Focus being driven by Matthew Bristow overtook another car being driven by Fergus Stapleton on the Chalfont-bound carriageway.

His driving was described as “normal” and “ordinary” by witnesses. There was no suggestion Mr Bristow was speeding.

Mr Bristow, who was not wearing a seat belt, and front seat passenger Nathan Highams were both seriously injured in the crash and neither has any recollection of the collision.

Back seat passenger Emily Berry, Mr Highams' girlfriend, said the car pulled sharply to the right as it hit the water. She couldn't tell if this was due to Mr Bristow steering however.

Mr Bristow's car crossed the central reservation and collided with Miss Stacey's red Fiat Punto as she drove to her home in Oxford Road, Denham, after helping at a Girl Guide event in Chalfont St Peter.

The A413 is one of the sections of road where street lights have been switched off by the council as a cost-saving measure.

Accident investigator PC Dan Henderson said Mr Bristow would only have had “one or two seconds” to spot and then react to seeing the puddle due to the lack of lighting.

He said it was “unreasonable to expect a driver to the avoid the water, given the circumstances” and added it would be a driver's “natural reaction” to over steer in the opposite direction after hitting water.

PC Henderson said although the road surface quality was “relatively poor” it did not contribute to the collision. He added there were no defects to either of the cars involved.

Recording a verdict of death by misadventure, coroner Richard Hulett said: “If anything had happened a second either way, we wouldn't be sat here.”

He said former Dr Challoner's High School pupil Miss Stacey, a teacher at Viking Primary School in Northolt, would have had “no opportunity” to react at all to the car travelling in the opposite direction.