Coroner unsure why woman leaned into bus on Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, inquest hears
Kathleen Pitts was fatally struck by a bus in October 2021
A coroner has said it's unclear why a woman who died on the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway leaned into the path of an oncoming bus.
Kathleen Pitts was one of three people killed in separate incidents along the busway between 2015 and 2021.
Ms Pitts, 52, was on a footpath next to the track when she was fatally struck by a bus on October 26, 2021.
An inquest today (Wednesday) heard from Richard Musgrave who was driving a Stagecoach bus that collided with Ms Pitts.
Bus driver 'couldn't do anything' to avoid collision
Mr Musgrave said he was driving from Trumpington towards Cambridge rail station, a route he said he has "driven hundreds of times.
‘Twenty to 30 metres down the track, I noticed a person on the footpath on my near side.
"I would say she was hovering, not walking towards the rail station or hospital, just walking back and forwards."
Mr Musgrave told the hearing Ms Pitts was around "three foot from the track edge" before stepping towards the track.
"It looked like they were going to pick something up from the ground," he said.
"I was in a 30mph section of the track, so I eased off the acceleration, hit the brakes and heard a bang."
Mr Musgrave said he saw Ms Pitts around 10 metres before she bent into his path, adding he "couldn't do anything to avoid the collision".
'Person leaned' towards bus track - eyewitness
Jessie Zhu was walking along the same footpath that night when she saw Ms Pitts around 100 metres ahead of her.
Speaking by video link, she told the inquest that she saw "a person lean their upper body" towards the path of the bus.
Ms Zhu said the bus stopped straight after the collision and the driver got out, "assuming he was calling 999.
"The doctor gave CPR and continued until extra help arrived," she said.
'No evidence' others caused collision - police
Last year, Cambridgeshire County Council was fined £6 million after it was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following “serious safety failings” on the busway.
It has since been installing safety measures such as fencing along the whole of the busway, which runs 16 miles between St Ives and Cambridge.
Ms Pitts' family did not attend the hearing.
A report from PC Sasha Porter - forensic collision investigator at Cambridgeshire Police - into the collision said Ms Pitts was struck by a bus just before 6pm.
"CCTV footage shows seconds before the collision, Ms Pitts moved close to a raised kerb next to the busway," the report found.
"The pedestrian either bent forward or was falling forward when they were struck."
PC Porter added there was "no evidence" that another person caused Ms Pitts to move closer to the busway.
Mental health decline
The inquest heard details from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) reports around Ms Pitts' mental health before the collision.
Coroner Elizabeth Gray said health officials made contact with Ms Pitts in August 2021, citing she was in a "mental health crisis, experiencing chaotic and erratic behaviour.
Around two weeks before the collision, Ms Gray said CPFT heard Ms Pitts may have been feeling "confused and suicidal, (but was) unable to explain why she felt this way."
Ms Gray read a statement from Meiser Stedman, a consultant psychiatrist, who said Ms Pitts had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
Ms Stedman recorded nine psychiatric admissions that Ms Pitts made between 1998 and 2010.
She said Ms Pitts became "increasingly unwell, experiencing stomach pain and struggling to get out of the house", as well as low mood and poor appetite.
But the CPFT report said Ms Pitts sought help with her "physical and mental state".
'Reasons unknown'
Ms Gray concluded that Ms Pitts’ actions were "unusual compared to (other) pedestrians using the pathway."
The coroner said that she found "no evidence to support an intentional act to end her life based on her physical and mental health at the time.
"I accept she suffered a deterioration in mental health since August 2021, (but) she sought help," Ms Gray said.
Ms Gray told the hearing that another bus driver who saw Ms Pitts close to the bus track moments before she died felt "she didn’t seem to have any awareness around her" and was "in a daze".
But the coroner said "there’s no evidence Ms Pitts tripped or was physically compromised and reasons for leaning towards the bus remain unknown."