Driver guilty over fatal smart motorway crash

A van driver who crashed into a broken-down car in a smart motorway's fast lane has been found guilty of causing death by careless driving.

Barry O'Sullivan was driving a Ford Transit Connect on the M4 westbound between junctions 11 and 12 in Berkshire when he hit a stationary Nissan Micra on 7 March 2022.

Pulvinder Dhillon, 68, from London, was a passenger in the car and died.

O'Sullivan, 45, of Wixams, Bedfordshire, said there was nothing to warn him of the car on the motorway, with signs and alerts defective for days before the crash.

Prosecutors said any competent driver should still have avoided the Micra, owned by Dhillon's daughter, Rajpal Dene.

But the defence argued that an accident was always likely to happen and that O'Sullivan was failed by the smart motorway system.

O'Sullivan was found to have been driving at about 77mph in the moments before the crash.

Footage taken in the moments before the collision showed multiple drivers driving around the marooned car.

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