A forensic crash investigator was “alarmed” at the design of the intersection where a 20-year-old cyclist died, because its traffic lights gave both vehicles the impression they had right of way simultaneously, the Queensland coroner’s court has heard.
A recreation of the fatal accident showed that the driver of the Brisbane city council bus, Andrew Rudnicki, had almost no opportunity to see Maximillian Patrick McDowall, before he struck and killed him.
McDowall died at the corner of Gillingham and O’Keefe Streets Woolloongabba in May 2021 as the City Glider bus turned on to the south-east busway.
Council assisting Emily Cooper opened the first day of a coroner’s court inquest hearing on Monday by announcing its terms of reference had changed to include the traffic lights at the intersection, and whether changes might need to be made to the road as it exists today.
The court initially declined to hold an inquest, before McDowall’s family appealed against the decision.
Sgt Carl Cutler, lead investigator for the Queensland police forensic crash unit, filed a report finding traffic lights at the intersection gave a green light to pedestrians and traffic turning left at the same time.
He said watching the traffic lights as he arrived at the scene “immediately, for me, raised an alarm bell” because there was no “separation” between when buses and cyclists got the green light.
“It provides both pedestrians and motorists with the mindset that ‘I have the right of way’ to travel through the intersection. I expected to see a time difference to allow separation,” he said.
Cutler said a recreation of the accident and a model of the vehicle’s sightlines showed McDowall was in the blind spot of the bus almost the entire time up to the point of collision.
He said the cyclist – who was moving faster than the bus from a position behind it – was in the best position to observe and evade the larger vehicle.
But under cross-examination from lawyer David Schneidewin, he conceded the cyclist would have no idea of the bus driver’s line of sight.
He also conceded McDowall may have been confused by rapid change in speed by the bus. The driver had slowed to 17 kilometres an hour to give way to a pedestrian and cyclist crossing in the opposite direction, down the hill, before speeding up to 21 kilometres an hour, the court heard.
Cutler also said McDowall could have been affected by “sun strike” and dazed by the afternoon sun.
McDowall was described as an experienced and cautious cyclist who had ridden the route to his work at the Queensland University of Technology several times a week for two years.
Rudnicki told the court he had driven buses for 33 years and had not had an issue with the intersection prior to the collision, but had heard from other drivers that they had “adventures” with cyclists at that location. He had driven the route nearly 798 times, half in the opposite direction.
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Rudnicki was previously charged with a minor traffic offence over the incident that was subsequently dropped, the court heard.
He said he would “do everything the same” again, because he simply did not see the cyclist coming.
“I saw one pedestrian and one cyclist down the footpath (coming toward me). I looked at the mirror. All clear,” he said.
“I started to turn left. I felt a bump and stopped the bus immediately, looked at the mirrors.
“I can’t see anything … I’d do exactly the same again, what I done. Nothing changed.”
Rudnicki said adding a green arrow to the traffic lights to make sure pedestrians were clear would be “excellent”.
“I am sorry about what has happened,” he said.
Coroner Donald MacKenzie will sit again on Tuesday. The inquest will last three days.
With reporting by Australian Associated Press