‘Beautiful’ mum killed in horror crash into tree that ripped her seatbelt from car

A "beautiful and loving" mum tragically lost her life when her car crashed[1] into a tree, an inquest heard. Sarah Lumb was driving on North Moor Lane in Halsall when she suddenly veered off the road and hit a tree. Joe Price, who was driving behind Sarah, described how she overtook him within the speed limit before swerving and crashing.

He said: "I saw the silver car as I came round the bend. I saw the car kind of turn back the other way and then turn back like an over-correction. It instantly stopped when it hit the tree."

The inquest heard that the weather[2] was fine on the day of the crash and police couldn't explain why Sarah lost control. Her daughter Jess said: "it seems like a lot of 'don't knows'... she drove that road for over 10 years. It doesn't seem logical." Sarah's seatbelt, which she was wearing during the crash, had been torn from its attachment to the car's frame.

The airbags also didn't go off. Assistant Coroner Richard Taylor said that due to worries raised by Sarah's family about her car's safety, he got evidence from Ford engineers in Germany, a forensic pathologist and the Department for Transport.

PC Matt Burn, a traffic cop with over 10 years' experience, explained that Sarah's seatbelt was ripped from its mounting because a "huge tree branch" hit the roof of her car. He also explained that airbags are only meant to go off in very specific situations when there's almost a direct head-on collision.

"Cars can only take so much force; that's why rally cars have extra roll bars," PC Burn said. "You could make a car out of solid metal and it would stay completely intact but the force that should have been taken by the bodywork then goes into the driver's body." Dr Nigel Cooper, a lecturer in forensic pathology, said that Sarah suffered a cranio-cervical injury caused by her body being held back by the seatbelt while her head kept moving forward. This led to an "unsurviveable" trauma which would have happened even if the seatbelt had stayed intact, reports Liverpool Echo[4].

Dr Cooper revealed: "Such injuries are more severe in those wearing a seatbelt than those not wearing one." Extracts from Jim Hand's statement at the Department for Transport were heard. He explained the government's collaboration with the United Nation's Economic Commission for Europe to review scenarios like Sarah's tragic accident. Responding to the incident, coroners made a verdict of a road traffic collision stating: "Somehow she lost control of the vehicle and I am sorry but we will never be able to answer how that occurred."

Post her untimely death, Sarah's daughter Jess said lovingly: "She was an amazing, compassionate and loving mother, who will be dearly missed.

Sarah played many roles as well as being a mother." She further praised her mum saying, "She was a person who put everything and everyone before herself.

She was the glue that held everyone together, and for that I am thankful to call her my mother."

References

1. ^ car crashed (www.mirror.co.uk)
2. ^ weather (www.mirror.co.uk)
3. ^ Woman loses her eye to airbag which deployed 'after impact' in violent crash (www.mirror.co.uk)
4. ^ Liverpool Echo (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)