Rural street lights switch-off blamed over death of woman pedestrian

A council which switches off street lights in the middle of the night has been urged to review the controversial money-cutting measure after a young woman pedestrian was killed by a car.

An inquest heard mother-of-five Cheryl Richards was run down as she walked home along an unlit section of a rural A-road at two o'clock in the morning.

The A361, near Hilperton, Wiltshire, was in complete darkness at the time because Wiltshire County Council decided three years earlier to switch off street lights from midnight to save £300,000 a year.

The inquest in Salisbury, Wilts, heard that Lee Sullivan, the driver of the Audi A3 which struck Miss Richards, had been drinking and the dead woman was not wearing any reflective clothing.

• Accident rates worse when street lights switched off

However, coroner Ian Singleton ruled that it would have been "impossible" for motorists to avoid Miss Richards because of the "lack of street lighting".

A local councillor said the decision by the Conservative-led authority to turn off the lights was "foolhardy".

Ernie Clark, an independent county councillor for Hilperton, said: "I'll be asking the council to look at the policy which is potentially a risk to pedestrians.

"I really think the council is going to have to look at it.

"As the council pointed out at the time there are no footpaths on that road and people are encouraged to use the path system but as events have proved people will walk along it ... and has resulted in what was a tragedy.

"The decision to turn the lights off was purely a cost saving measure by the Conservatives and I hope after this the highways committee take note of the coroner's verdict as I would have thought the money being saved is not a lot."

He added: "I would have been happier if the lights had been dimmed or if every other one was used, as it was a little bit foolhardy to switch them completely off.

"But absolutely they need to look at it again, one death is one death too many."

According to data published in December 558,000 of Britain's 5.7 million streetlights are now being shut off at night, an eight fold increase on 2010.

Councils are also dimming 797,000 compared to 79,000 in May 2010.

Police data published last year showed night time road deaths had increased by 39 per cent in four years from 2009 after lights were switched off, with serious injuries up 27 per cent and minor injuries up 19 per cent.

A total of 324 more people were killed or injured after dark on the roads over the period, compared with a general downward trend in road casualties.

The AA has opposed the move to switch off lighting and warned that the money-saving step was creating "street light martyrs".

Miss Richards, 31, of Melksham, Wilts, and partner Simon Cook were making their way home following a party with friends at around 2.20am on September 27 last year.

She suffered severe head injuries when she was struck by the car.

Mr Sullivan, 23, who was at the wheel, returned to the scene of the crash before driving off again and later handed himself into Melksham police station.

He was found to have 38 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of his breath.

The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

• Street lights turned off in their thousands to meet carbon emission targets

However, further tests showed a level of 27 microgrammes and a "back test" - which estimates previous levels at the time of an incident - found he was likely have been just below the limit at 34 microgrammes**** when the crash occurred.

He was later charged with failing to stop at the scene of a collision and given 10 points on his licence and 200 hours community service.

Pc Andrew Grigg from Avon and Somerset's collision investigation unit said: "There is no pavement on the road and it is designed to keep pedestrians away and use the underground paths.

"Having carried out tests we found that with dimmed head beams on an Audi A3 the distance of being able to see would have been 25 metres, while with high beams on this was 55 metres.

"With a distance of 25 metres, had anyone been driving at the speed limit of the road a collision would have been inevitable as where Cheryl was in the road any vehicle would have had insufficient time to avoid her."

Mr Singleton, the Wilts assistant coroner, said: "Although Cheryl was walking along the road in the middle of the carriageway there is no suggestion it was done with the intention of causing harm to herself or anyone else.

"Given the lack of street lighting and that Cheryl was not wearing any reflective clothing, it would have been impossible for Mr Sullivan or any others driving on that road to steer or break to avoid her.

He added that it was "impossible to rule out that Mr Sullivan's attention and reactions were not decreased by the level of alcohol in his system".

After the inquest, Miss Richards family said in a statement: "This as a family has devastated each and everyone of us.

"We will never be able to get over this loss."