Jury to retire in Yallah minibus fatality trial

Michael Ryan, 55, was at the wheel of a Warrigal Aged Care Services minibus that veered partially into the path of an 18.5-tonne B Double during a failed overtaking maneuvre on the M1 at Yallah in January last year.

One of his 10 passengers, Margaret Russell, 78, suffered multiple blunt force injuries as the bus flipped over a roadside barrier, and died at the scene. 

Ryan has pleaded not guilty to the charge; his lawyer argues his behaviour does not meet the legal definition of dangerous driving. 

After three days of evidence, a Wollongong District Court jury heard closing arguments on Thursday. 

The Crown prosecutor told jurors: “by continuing with the overtaking maneuvre [Ryan] was placing passengers in the bus at real risk of harm”. 

“Driving a motor vehicle is inherently dangerous. We all know that,” he said. 

“The danger caused by the overtaking vehicle that Ryan exceeds what we would expect. 

“Was it safe to veer from lane two into lane one? No it was not. It was very clear it was not safe.”

Ryan gave evidence he didn’t hear anyone on the bus yell out in warning – as one passenger claims – immediately before he veered left, then returned safely to lane two. It was when he veered a second time, still not having completely cleared the truck, that the collision occurred. 

The truck driver, Tony Forshaw, passed mandatory blood and alcohol tests and was not charged in relation to the tragedy. 

On Thursday the Crown prosecutor said the risk for Mr Forshaw, who was transporting 49,000 litres of fuel, had continued until after the moment of impact. 

“He, notwithstanding the danger he was placed in, managed to stop a 57-tonne truck carrying ethanol,” he said. 

“If not, the risk to others would have been catastrophic.” 

In his police interview, Ryan said he had been driving the bus about once a week since August – about five months. He said he was aware the bus was fitted with a device that limited its speed to 100kmh, but that he believed he reached 105kmh on the downhill section of road, as he attempted to overtake. 

“When I was right alongside him [Mr Forshaw] … he started increasing [speed]… I thought, ‘it's only a couple of hundred metres to the exit’. So that’s why I had to go to 105 to get past him,” he told police. 

Defence barrister Josh Brock called on jurors to note the gradient of the road. Black box data showed it took one minute and 59 seconds for the truck to accelerate uphill to 78kmh from a near-static position at the Albion Park roundabout. Having then reached the hill’s crest, it took just 16 seconds to reach 98kmh – its speed at impact. 

Mr Brock said Ryan had made the decision to overtake the truck when it was “slow-moving”, only to be caught out by its more rapid acceleration on the downhill section of road. 

“The video footage doesn’t tell the whole story,” Mr Brock said. “Mr Ryan was reacting to a rapidly changing situation.” 

He told jurors they would need to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Ryan had committed a “serious and significant breach of the proper management and control of his vehicle”. 

“It’s not enough to conclude that this is simply an example of bad driving,” he said. 

Mr Brock called on the jury to consider the “realities of driving” before arriving at a verdict.

“There is a risk every time a car is used. And the only … way to entirely eliminate that risk is to lock our houses and wrap ourselves in cotton wool.”