School bus driver cleared after accident

The driver of a school bus that struck and severely injured a Kaitaia College student on October 31, 2011, has been cleared of blame.

Judge Greg Davis dismissed a charge of careless driving causing injury, which driver Jill Schou had denied, after a defended hearing in the Kaitaia District Court. The accident, he said, had been entirely unavoidable.

"This is, in my view, a situation where an incredibly unfortunate accident has a occurred, but in my view it is exactly that, an accident," he said.

"I do not believe that Ms Schou, driving at a speed of between 41 and 50km/h when she saw the children on the road, behaved in a manner or to a standard that would not be expected of a prudent driver, and accordingly, I do not find any of those actions to have been careless on her part.

"Equally, when Ms [Taimania] Martin-Heke stepped on to the road in front of the bus she did it at a distance that was so close to the bus that an accident was unavoidable. Ms Schou took some evasive action; regrettably for everybody involved it was insufficient to avoid any injuries to Ms Martin-Heke, but [there] was not, in my view, any more that she could have done."

Ms Martin-Heke was struck by the front left corner of the bus, suffering extensive and severe injuries, from which she is still recovering.

Judge Davis said he accepted that the grass verge on the eastern side of Pukepoto Road was wet that morning, and that was why Ms Martin-Heke and her sister, Mercedes Roach, were walking between the kerb and the fog line. Evidence had been given that it was common practice for children to walk there.

Ms Roach had given evidence that her sister had earphones plugged into her telephone, with one of the ear pieces in her right ear. When she began to cross the road, Ms Roach warned her that "there's a bus". The driver beeped and swerved but the bus hit her.

Schou had estimated she was 50 metres away from Ms Martin-Heke when she saw her, but police evidence had put the distance at around 26 metres. She had given evidence that she had not braked hard because she was afraid of losing control of the bus, and would not have been able to take the additional evasive action of swerving. Judge Davis was satisfied that she had not been exceeding the 50km/h speed limit, evidence pointing to a speed of between 35 and 41km/h.

"It is poignant to remind oneself that what is not in dispute here is that a tragic accident has occurred and there are some long-lasting, it appears, effects for Ms Martin-Heke," he added.

"To that extent Ms Martin-Heke, and indeed her family, have the court's greatest sympathy. Few words can be expressed by the court to indicate the depth of sympathy that one would have for her, particularly in what appears to be a long road toward rehabilitation."