[Edited to add link]This is a newspaper article about the sad death of a young person but the reporting and comments seem a little out of the ordinary, to me, in this age of what seems to be.... "speed was a contributing factor" or "mobile phones are dangerous", summing up of accidents.
I've blanked out names and locations but what do others think?
Shrewsbury driver's death a tragic accident
By?Dani?Wozencroft
A woman who died in a car crash in xxxxxxxx could have glanced at her phone or been avoiding an animal in the road, an inquest has heard.
XXXXXXXX, died after she was struck by a wooden stake from a picket fence that smashed through her windscreen when she crashed into a tree on the Bxxxxx.
The inquest, yesterday, heard that she had received a text message just one minute and 40 seconds before the first emergency call was made.
Recording a verdict of accidental death, coroner xxxx said it “clearly was an accident” as Miss xxxx had not been using her phone.
The crash happened at xxxxx, at about 10.40am on February 2.
PC xxxxx told the inquest that neither alcohol, drugs, the condition of the car, the weather or speed was a factor.
He said at the time Miss xxxxx lost control of her Seat Ibiza she was travelling at between 49 and 60mph.
There were tyre scruff marks on the straight road for 49 metres which indicated that the car had gone over the kerb, on to the verge and back again before spinning around and hitting the fence and tree.
PC xxxxx, overseeing the investigation, told the inquest that police found an iPhone by the hand brake.
He said: “A text message had been received at around the time the collision had taken place. That text message would have shown up on the screen even if the message had not been opened.”
Forensic analysis showed the message was received at 10.40am and two seconds. The first 999 call was made at 10.41am.
PC xxxx added: “It could be she just looked down for a second, not using her phone, or that an animal ran across the road.
“This could cause a distraction prior to losing control. While there is no evidence that the driver hit an animal, there is a lot of animal movement in the area.”
Miss xxxxxxx, suffered chest and neck injuries.
No-one witnessed the collision.