Investigation and inquest
On 21/12/2017 I commenced an investigation into the death of Imtiaz Mohammed. The investigation concluded at the end of an inquest on 29th May 2018. The conclusion of the inquest was Road Traffic Collision.
Circumstances of the death
On 17/12/17 at 01.11 a serious collision took place on Lee Bank Middleway in Birmingham. An Audi A3 registration ████████ containing 4 occupants was travelling towards Highgate having come from the traffic island on Broad Street in the City Centre. The Audi car was driving between 94 and 100mph on a road with a speed limit of 40mph. After negotiating a slight left hand bend the driver of the Audi has lost control of the vehicle, crossing the oncoming carriageway. The Audi vehicle has then rotated to collide its nearside to the front of a black Peugeot Taxi reg ████████ traveling in the opposite direction. The taxi contained the driver and two passengers. The Taxi has in turn collided with a silver Toyota Yaris reg AF07KNC and then overturned. The Audi has continued to rotate coming to rest straddling lanes 1 and 2 in the opposite carriageway. During this, all 4 occupants of the Audi were ejected from the vehicle, two from the sun roof and two from the boot. None were wearing seatbelts. One occupant from the Audi survived. The 3 occupants from the taxi all died as a result of their injuries. The cause of the collision was driving a vehicle at excessive speed with defected tyres contributed to be driving under the influence of cannabis.
Following a post mortem the medical cause of death was determined to be:
MULTIPLE INJURIES
Coroner’s concerns
1. Toxicology was obtained for the deceased who was driving the Taxi involved in the collision. This confirmed the following blood levels:
Cocaine 0.010mg/l
Benzoylecgonine (a cocaine metabolite) 0.40mg/l
Carboxy THC 0.10 mg/l
The level of the cocaine metabolite would have resulted in the deceased being over the legal drug driver limit. This did not contribute to this collision.
However the Midlands Police raised concerns at the inquest that there was presently no system in place to monitor and check whether taxi drivers are over the drug limit whilst driving. They confirmed in evidence that some sort of testing was required for the safety of passengers.