Beloved Sheffield woman killed in horror crash while walking to prayer meeting at church

Coroner Mrs T Rawden instructed the local authority to make safety changes to Hollinsend Road, such as introducing barriers or putting in a light-controlled pedestrian crossing during the inquest of June Buckley’s death on Monday, October 19.

The 85-year-old who lived in Gleadless passed away after she was hit by a Land Rover Freelander while trying to cross the busy junction, which carries over the A6102 and then back onto Hollinsend Road, at around 8.45am on January 24, 2019.

An inquest into Mrs Buckley’s death, held at Sheffield Coroner’s Court yesterday heard how she had been walking to a prayer meeting at the local church – a route she was said to have done “billions of times” when she was hit near the war memorial.

Emergency service workers initially thought the 85-year-old’s wounds were not life threatening, but Mrs Buckley, who also had dementia, succumbed to her injuries on January, 29 of last year, the court were told.

The 85-year-old’s relatives relayed how their sister, who was the oldest of her four siblings and leaves behind nieces and nephews, was “very active” and “just loved life” during the inquest.

“She was a big part of the family, we were four girls”, Mrs Buckley’s sister, Joy told the court.

South Yorkshire Police reconstructed the route taken by the Land Rover Freelander driver before the fatal collision, forensic collisions investigator Fiona Wilson told the court.

Officers examined how close a driver can be to the junction on Hollinsend Road, near the tram tracks, and it appear that the pedestrian crossing the road is still on the pavement when they are in fact crossing oncoming traffic, the inquest heard.

Miss Wilson told the court how the motorist would have only had a one to two second reaction time, to have spotted the 85-year-old as she was crossing the road and avoid her.

The forensic collisions investigator said, the combination of a lack of view for the pedestrian walking across the road and it being difficult to see visibility as a driver, limited reaction time.

“There was no point during the reconstruction that there wasn’t oncoming traffic and that makes it very difficult for a pedestrian to cross”, Miss Wilson told the court.

Sheffield City Council’s road traffic collisions officer, Ashley Carnall told Mrs Rawden that the local authority would look at increasing the delay between traffic light sequencing on Hollinsend Road and Ridgeway Road and potentially erecting a barrier rail.

There had been no collisions on Hollinsend Road in the five years up to the fatal collision on January 24, 2019, the inquest heard from the road traffic collisions officer.

But three vehicles crashed on Hollinsend Road, near the junction with Stanhope Road, on June 12, of last year.

Mrs Rawden concluded that that the fatal collision was a combination of the view of the road which gave the pedestrian and the driver a false view of each other’s positioning.

An obituary posted in the Sheffield Star read: “It is with great sadness that the family announce the passing of June. Loving wife, mother, sister, aunt, great aunt and friend to many.”

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