Pedestrian killed by ambulance almost invisible, coroner told

A Northland pedestrian killed in a night-time collision with an ambulance had been warned minutes earlier to make himself more visible.

An inquest into the death of Svetislav Zivadinovic, 68, also known as Zorro, was held in Kaitaia yesterday.

Coroner Heather Ayrton found Mr Zivadinovic died from massive thorax, spinal and cranial injuries.

Those injuries were received when he was struck by a St John Ambulance on State Highway 10 between Kaitaia and Awanui, 7km north, about 6.28pm on July 9, 2003.

Witness Mervyn Taylor said he had warned Mr Zivadinovic to make himself more visible after giving him a lift to the old Awanui Post Office about 6pm -- about 30 minutes before Mr Zivadinovic died.

Mr Zivadinovic had been wearing a black leather jacket, a dark blue t-shirt and navy dress pants. He had been walking east to Awanui on an unlit stretch of highway.

"I told him how silly he was to be walking along with dark clothes on. I told him to go get a newspaper and carry something white," Mr Taylor said.

Another witness said she had been forced to swerve to avoid hitting Mr Zivadinovic on two occasions.

The driver of the ambulance, Michael Burrows, said the Coopers Beach-based ambulance was responding to a priority-one spinal injury in Kaitaia at the time of the collision.

The ambulance's flashing lights were on, but no siren.

He estimated he was travelling at between 95 and 100km/h when he had passed a utility vehicle, which had pulled to the side of the road.

The utility vehicle driver had said the ambulance had to travel about one metre over the centreline to pass.

About 150m after passing the ute, the ambulance collided with Mr Zivadinovic at between 125km/h and 130km/h .

"I think I had started pulling back into my lane, I may have flicked the lights to high beam when I saw this thin black object ... I had no time to brake or do anything."

There was no evidence of alcohol or cannabis in Mr Zivadinovic's system.

An inspection of the ambulance by Vehicle Testing New Zealand found no mechanical faults with the ambulance.

Police tests which replicated the conditions on the night of Mr Zivadinovic's death found that a person dressed in dark clothing could only be seen when the vehicle was 15.7 metres away, at a test speed of only 5kmh.

Mrs Ayrton said it appeared the collision would have been unavoidable.

"There can be no doubt this was a devastating accident and most traumatic for all involved."

She commended the actions of both the ambulance staff for their professionalism after the crash.

Mrs Ayrton also read an Occupational Health and Safety report, which stated St Johns ambulance had good systems in place for both driver training and tracking vehicle maintenance.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)