Gillian Jackson - The Accident

February 20th was a wild, blustery morning. Hannah hadn’t slept the night before; she hadn’t really slept well since the visit from the police constable signalled the possibility of charges in relation to the accident. Until then it wasn’t something she’d even considered, assuming it was the atrocious weather conditions which were to blame, but now her thinking had shifted and the possibility of being somehow culpable herself haunted her waking hours and prevented any restful sleep.

Mike didn’t want to talk about it, arguing that it was stupid to anticipate something which might never happen. As she hadn’t told the children of her fears, it was almost impossible to get Mike alone to talk about anything serious, a situation which Hannah found increasingly frustrating. There was only Rosie to whom she could confide. Rosie, who felt angry on her behalf at the very suggestion that she had caused the accident, and who might possibly stand up and give the coroner a piece of her unique wisdom, if he should reach the conclusion that she was in any way to blame. She was grateful for her friend’s loyal and fierce support and wished Mike was equally as protective.

Hannah asked Mel and Sam not to attend the inquest, afraid of what they might hear. The ban didn’t go down well and eventually she’d pleaded with them not to go, getting so upset that they felt obliged to agree.

With echoes of the constable’s words, ‘ manslaughter ’ and ‘ driving without due care and attention ’ playing on a loop through her mind, Hannah set off with Mike to discover her fate. A wheelchair was now her usual aid to mobility for any distance, as crutches still proved to be clumsy, unless on even ground. She’d had the first measurements taken for a prosthetic leg to be made and dearly hoped she would be upright and walking again soon.

Still embarrassed at the missing limb, Hannah chose to cover herself with a rug whenever she was going out; something Mike was quick to assist with when he lifted her from the car. She was glad of its warmth today too, as she shivered with the cold, and fraught nerves. If she’d still had two legs Hannah didn’t think they would have held her up that morning; she was trembling and felt sick to the stomach, anticipating the worst possible outcome.

The coroner’s court was in a wing of the town hall which they entered through the disabled entrance at the side of the impressive Victorian building. The entrance hall they found themselves in was vast, its high ceiling throwing back loud echoes of visitors’ shoes, or in Hannah’s case, the squeaking of wheels. Rosie met them inside; she’d taken a couple of hours off work to attend, and squeezed her friend’s hand in greeting, comfort which Hannah badly needed. An usher showed them the way, holding doors open for Mike to circumnavigate the obstacles of the old building.

As they entered the room, which was smaller and more comfortable than Hannah expected, people turned to look at her, some smiling weakly, sympathetically even, and others turning away, either with apathy or embarrassment. Mostly their faces were grim, red eyes from weeping or not sleeping, she couldn’t tell, but Hannah felt the weight of each person’s sorrow. Mike sat beside her, his face reflecting the solemnity of everyone else, while Rosie sat on his other side and leaned over to whisper encouragement.

‘Well, it’s not going to be easy but it’ll soon be over!’ She smiled, hopefully.

Or will it just be beginning? Hannah thought and blinked back the tears forming in her eyes.

The first surprise was when the coroner introduced herself as a doctor; Hannah expected a judge, or perhaps a magistrate. Dr Eloise Phillips sat at a small table with several files in front of her and began by acknowledging the tragedy of the accident and offering her condolences. She moved swiftly on to stating the purpose of the hearing, which was to rule on the cause of death of the three people who died as a result of the incident. She outlined the procedure, what was expected of each witness and, the second surprise for Hannah, the fact that anyone in the assembly could ask questions.

The first witness to be called was the police traffic officer who had been first to arrive on the scene. He looked to Hannah to be not much older than Sam as he stood nervously at a small podium next to the coroner’s table and spoke from his notes. He informed the gathering that there had been eleven vehicles involved in the accident, one of the worst he’d personally ever had to deal with. This was the first of many facts the assembled group would hear, most of them distressing, and it wasn’t long before quiet sobs could be heard throughout the room. Hannah’s own face was wet with silent tears as she listened to the full horrors of the event of which she still had no recollection whatsoever.

It was obvious that the inquest would take several hours and due to the distressing nature of much of the evidence, the coroner halted the proceedings frequently for short breaks. Some left the room to compose themselves during these breaks, while others stayed in their seats and whispered together with grim faces.

‘I don’t think I can do this.’ A distraught Hannah turned to Mike.

‘You don’t have a choice, but your evidence will be short, seeing as how you can’t remember anything.’ When he referred to her memory loss, Mike still sounded as if he didn’t fully believe her and his attitude was almost one of annoyance.

‘You’ll be fine, and the coroner’s obviously sympathetic.’ Rosie was more encouraging but Hannah still felt that if she could walk she might just get up and flee from the room.

Some of the hardest evidence to listen to was from those who had lost loved ones in the accident. The father of the teenage boy who died had been driving him to the orthodontist, and tears rolled down his cheeks as he relived the horror of that morning. The man whose wife died also gave evidence and Hannah thought there was something familiar about his face. He described how his Range Rover had crashed into her car, the brakes impotent on the ice. His evidence was perhaps the most compelling of all and also the most comforting to Hannah. When the coroner asked his opinion of the speed her Ford Focus was travelling at the time, his reply was probably the most crucial of all the witness statements.

‘It can’t have been more than ten miles an hour, if that. She was on the slip road; it was the ice on the roads which caused the accident, not speeding. The poor woman didn’t stand a chance when her car skidded, the conditions were atrocious and she probably hit black ice.’

After hearing all the other evidence, some of which was conflicting, this man’s seemed the most powerful. His had been the second vehicle to collide and his wife was killed instantly, yet he spoke fairly and with compassion for Hannah’s helplessness, which went a long way to relieving some of the anxiety she’d been feeling.

When she was eventually called to give evidence, Mike pushed her to the podium and left the chair at its side. The coroner asked her to give her name and address and to confirm her car make and registration number. Hannah trembled as she answered, her voice barely a whisper but the coroner was sympathetic and went on to ask if she had any recollection of the accident at all. The negative answer was obviously expected and Dr Phillips thanked Hannah for attending and said she could return to her seat. Rosie offered a huge ‘told you so’ smile as Mike pushed her back and all three felt an enormous sense of relief that this had been all which was required of her.

The hearing broke late for lunch with all the evidence having been presented and only a few questions asked by individuals in the gathering, which Dr Phillips, or the police officer, answered capably and to the apparent satisfaction of the enquirers. The coroner told them that she would sum up and present her findings when they returned from lunch.