Safety audit launched after woman killed by Wellington bus

Venessa Green, 40, who died after being hit by a bus while jogging in Willis St, Wellington. Photo / supplied

A safety audit of central Wellington has been launched following the death of a woman who was killed when she ran in front of a bus.

Venessa Ann Green, 40, suffered critical injuries when she ran in front of a bus on Willis St in central Wellington on June 28, 2011.

She died in Wellington Hospital the next day.

Coroner Garry Evans has today released his findings from the inquest into her death.

He said the cause of her death was severe traumatic brain injury.

On the day of her death, Ms Green was running south on Willis St when she ran onto the road.

"In so doing, she ran into the path of the bus," Coroner Evans said in his findings.

She suffered a serious head injury and underwent emergency surgery at Wellington Hospital, but her injuries were not survivable, he said.

A video of the incident showed the bus driver had less than one second to react to the situation and the bus would have been travelling about 8m a second.

Constable Scott Walker told the inquest the footage showed the driver reacted before hitting Ms Green.

One witness, Marguerite Ames, said Ms Green was jogging at a medium speed, the findings said.

"She describes the woman's head as 'fixed straight ahead'. She says she did not see the woman turn her head left or right.

"She says that when the woman got to the kerb, she did not stop."

Ms Green's brother, Aaron, said when the family went to the scene of the crash they noted there was a large sign obstructing part of the road looking north, which was "promptly removed in the days following the incident".

Coroner Evans said the court was "unable to safely exclude the possibility that, although the evidence would show Miss Green did not look to her right, the positioning of the sign may momentarily have obstructed her catching sight of the bus peripherally on her right".

If the sign was not there, Ms Green might have caught a glimpse of the bus and stopped, Coroner Evans said.

He recommended the Wellington City Council this year commission a further safety audit of the Golden Mile -- which stretches through Wellington's CBD along Lambton Quay, Willis St and through to Courtenay Place -- and of the pedestrians, motorists, cyclists and others who used it.

Council spokesman Richard McLean said they launched an audit after last year's inquest when the coroner suggested he could be making that recommendation.

It would be the third safety audit of the area, he said.

It was hoped to be finished within the next couple of months.