Driver found guilty after deadly crash on malfunctioning smart motorway

A van driver who crashed into the back of a broken-down car in the fast lane of a smart motorway has been convicted of causing the fatal collision.

Barry O’Sullivan, 45, was driving a grey Ford work van along the M4 on 7 March 2022 when he hit a Nissan Micra that had stopped in the outside lane.

The crash, which took place on the M4 westbound between junctions 11 and 12 in Berkshire, caused both vehicles to propel forward, with the Nissan bursting into flames.

Pulvinder Dhillon, who was a passenger in her daughter’s Micra, suffered fatal injuries.

It was later discovered that an unresolved technical failure on the M4 smart motorway network meant alerts for broken-down vehicles were not properly communicated in the days leading up to the collision, the trial at Reading Crown Court was previously told.

Defence lawyers argued O’Sullivan could not have caused the death of Dhillon because the crash was “inevitable” given that the car was stationary in the fast lane and the smart motorway was not displaying any warning signs to other motorists.

While acknowledging “something went wrong” with the motorway’s safety alert system, the prosecution argued O’Sullivan still caused the death of Dhillon by driving carelessly and “at speed”.

He did not pick up on “cues” that the vehicle was stationary, including the fact that other motorists were taking steps to avoid the broken-down Nissan, the prosecution told jurors during the trial.

The panel found O’Sullivan guilty of one count of causing death by careless driving, having deliberated for more than six hours.

On the day of the crash, alerts from stopped vehicle detection radars on the M4 junction eight/nine to 12 had not been communicated for five days due to a technical failure on the IT network, the trial heard.

Consequently, the network “wasn’t showing messages about any obstructions in the road ahead” on the morning of the incident.

The technical malfunction had been flagged by the system on 2 March 2022 and automatically generated tickets, but they were assigned to the wrong National Highways team and with an incorrect priority level of “seven-day resolution”, the trial was told.

The Nissan had been stationary on the fast lane for six minutes before the collision, jurors previously heard.

O’Sullivan, of Wixams near Bedford, was driving his Ford van at speeds of 74-80mph along that same stretch of motorway for the five seconds before the crash.

A roadside breath test and drug test were later administered. O’Sullivan had a zero reading for alcohol, and no cocaine or cannabis was detected.