It is ''good practice'' for bus drivers to check if anyone is behind their vehicle before reversing, a police crash analyst says.
Constable Jack McGilbert said the driver of a bus that reversed over an American tourist at Mt Nicholas Station last year, fatally injuring him, should have got out first and checked behind it.
Giving evidence on the second day of a trial in the Queenstown District Court yesterday, Const McGilbert said such a precaution was recommended in NZ Transport Agency safety guidelines for reversing.
A 63-year-old Wakatipu woman, who has interim name suppression, is charged with careless driving causing the death of Richard Philip Hyde (73) on April 15 last year.
An employee of tourist operator Southern Discoveries, she had just dropped off Mr Hyde and six other visitors at the station's woolshed when the accident happened.
Defence counsel Nic Soper said the defendant had carried out the manoeuvre hundreds of times without incident, and it was ''wholly impractical'' to get out and check behind the bus every time.
She had seen all seven passengers get off, and was aware they had been instructed to walk around the front of the bus on their way into the woolshed.
There was nothing unusual about the situation and therefore no reason for her to take extra precautions.
Judge Alastair Garland reminded Mr Soper the defendant had told another police officer on the day of the accident she had noticed only six passengers go inside the woolshed, and had forgotten about the seventh.
''It's your proposition - there's one missing.''
Const McGilbert, who examined the scene the day after the accident, said he saw a scuff mark in the dust on the bus' rear bumper.
He concluded it was the point where the bus hit either Mr Hyde's body or the backpack he was wearing.
Under cross-examination, he said it was unlikely the mark had been caused by another person after the accident, such as someone reaching under the bus to retrieve the victim's backpack or cellphone.
Mr Soper said Mr Hyde was 181cm tall and weighed 99kg.
''You would normally expect there would be more evidence of contact for a person of that size to be knocked to the ground other than that small scuff mark on the bumper.''
He asked Const McGilbert if he had considered whether Mr Hyde was already on the ground when the bus began reversing.
His wife, Kate Jurow, had given evidence her husband had a serious heart condition and sometimes forgot to take medication for it.
He had uncharacteristically tripped and fallen a few days before, and had been suffering from a cold.
There was no sign of disturbance in the gravel indicating a standing Mr Hyde had been knocked over and broken his fall with his hands.
There were abrasions on his elbows, however.
''Isn't it more likely Mr Hyde was already on the ground when he was hit by the bus, and not in a standing position?''
Const McGilbert replied he had not considered that scenario because there was no evidence the victim was kneeling, crouching or lying on the ground when the bus began reversing. For the same reason, he also did not consider whether the victim had gone into the woolshed and come out a side entrance soon afterwards.
The trial continues today.
