Swerve off road is fatal

Aug 20 2008 by Sue McCann, Neston News

AN ELDERLY woman died after her husband may have dozed off at the wheel and smashed his car into a tree, an inquest heard.

Doreen Alma Jardine, 84, was with her husband, Donald, as they drove to their home at Roscote Close, Heswall, after a day in North Wales.

Witnesses described how their green Lexus GS300 appeared to drift across the A540 Chester High Road just prior to the crash.

Mrs Jardine was left with multiple injuries affecting her sternum, and including a broken right leg, in the smash on January 9.

She did not respond to treatment, dying nine days later in Arrowe Park Hospital.

The inquest into her death at Wallasey Town Hall was told that her husband, Donald Johnstone Jardine, is due to be charged at Chester Magistrates’ Court with driving without due care and attention next month.

Cheshire Police vehicle examiner Eifion Glyn Jones told the inquest he could not find any defect on the vehicle which could account for the loss of control at about 40mph.

Wirral coroner Christopher Johnson recorded a narrative verdict that “the deceased died from the injuries she sustained when she was a front seat passenger in a car which left the road and collided with a tree”.