Woman mowed down by SUV after she jumped out of cab following argument with driver over seat belt
A woman traveling in a taxi was killed after she refused to wear the seat belt and got out of the vehicle following an argument with the driver.
On February 20, Vanessa Collins-Smith, 25, was in a taxi that was driving down A4076 near Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire, Wales, around 11 p.m. when she started to argue with the driver regarding her refusal to put on a seat belt, according to an inquest hearing on Friday, Daily Mail reported.
"I kept asking her but she refused to wear a seat belt. The alarm was sounding and the more I asked her the more abusive she became," taxi driver Awais Eshan told the police.
With a bottle of Prosecco in one hand, Collins-Smith got out of the cab without paying and stood in the middle of the road alone. Since she had recently moved into the area, she called one of her friends to find out where to go next. Although there was a pavement along the side of the busy road, the homeowner did not use it.
After two vehicles swerved to avoid hitting her, a third car—a LandRover Defender—hit her, killing her on the spot.
Gordon Stanger, the driver of Land Rover, said that he did not see Collins-Smith standing in the middle of the road because she was wearing all black. "Her dark clothing blended in with the surroundings," investigation officer Aled Thomas said. "The driver would not have been able to avoid her."
She died after suffering multiple traumatic injuries in the accident, according to a verdict from Pembrokeshire Coroner Mark Layton.
The 25-year-old had been working as a carer since leaving school and recently training to become a nurse. "Vanessa was just lovely, one of life's natural carers," her colleague at The Meadows care home in Johnston, Haverfordwest said. "All the residents loved her, she would give them a cuddle if ever they were upset. It's heartbreaking that she died so tragically."
Her mother was devastated by the sudden loss, "She was a sweet and bubbly girl, she was loved by the people she cared for at the home. She'd never objected to wearing a seat belt before, we don't know what to make of it."