The controversial lawyer known as ‘Mr Loophole’ last night described an 82-year-old man who was knocked down and killed in Salford as ‘kamikaze’.
Last week, Nick Freeman defended Simon Martins, 24, in Manchester Crown Court on the charge of death by dangerous driving, after Martins hit granddad-of-54, Rabbi Hyman Steinberg on Leicester Road in December 2012.
Mr Freeman’s comments that pedestrians should wear high-visibility clothing at night – given some backing by Road Safety GB – drew criticism from Withington MP and road safety campaigner John Leech.
Following the comments, Mr Freeman and Mr Leech appeared on yesterday’s ‘Jewish Hour’ on Salford City Radio to debate the issue.
Mr Leech was clear in his belief that, irrespective of the dark clothing Mr Steinberg was wearing at the time of the accident, the fault lay with the driver.
He said: “The fact is, [Mr Steinberg] lost his life because of someone who was driving carelessly, appears to have been speeding over 40 MPH in a 30 MPH zone and had been using his mobile phone at some point before the accident.”
Mr Freeman responded by claiming that Mr Leech had ‘a misunderstanding of the facts’, and that both driver and pedestrian were at fault.
“The reality is, unfortunately, that the rabbi embarked upon which sadly can only be described as a kamikaze course – he ran across the front of the car,” he said.
“Sadly, not only was the rabbi dressed in traditional dark clothing, and the street lighting wasn’t working very efficiently, he also made a fatal error of judgement in that he ran across the front of the car.
“Now we don’t know if he saw the car and tried to beat it or whether he simply didn’t see it.”
Mr Freeman accepted Martins had been driving without due care and attention – for which the court gave him an eight-month suspended sentence – but stressed that Martins’ sending of a text some two minutes before the accident was not connected to Mr Steinberg’s death.
He also said in 2012 there had been 10,000 people involved in accidents as a result of pedestrians not looking where they were going when crossing the road.
He said: “This is a serious problem, it isn’t an isolated incident, and what I’m concerned about is simply trying to secure a situation where people are safer when they share a road space.”
That meant encouraging people to wear reflective clothing, which he said was already being done in Salford.
A note had been circulated around Jews in the area, he said, to recommend that when they go out in the dark, they wear a high-visibility armband over their traditional clothing.
He added: “To me it simply smacks of common sense, that if someone is visible at night-time the chances of them surviving if they do make an error of judgement are much greater than if they’re not.”
Mr Leech countered that argument by saying: “What is more common sense is for drivers not to exceed the speed limit of the road, and also to take the conditions on that particular day into account.”
Given the statistical survival rates for pedestrians hit at 20 and 40 MPH, he said the default speed limit should be reduced from 30 to 20 MPH.
He said pedestrians could certainly choose to wear reflective clothing in the dark, but said they should not be compelled to do so.
There was to be no agreement on the outcome of the case either.
Because the court had accepted that blame lay with both parties in this incident, Mr Freeman said: “I think justice has been done.”
To which Mr Leech replied: “To suggest that the Rabbi is responsible for his own death is appalling.”
Image courtesy of ITV, via YouTube, with thanks.
