Road Rage!

[faceless]

Driver died sitting in car blaze

A driver burnt to death after refusing to leave her vehicle when it was set alight following a crash, an inquest was told. Serena Sutton-Smith, 54, who suffered bipolar disorder, was said to have become enraged after crashing on the B4632 in the Cotswolds on 30 April. Witnesses said she sat tight in her burning Vauxhall Nova, even though people were urging her to get out. Gloucestershire Coroner Alan Crickmore recorded a verdict of accidental death.

The hearing was told that Ms Sutton-Smith had narrowly avoided hitting Paula Small's Fiat Punto on the road between Weston-sub-Edge and Mickleton before deciding to ram it. She then put her foot on the accelerator and left it there, causing the tyres to disintegrate and sparks to fly into the brake fluid. The former bar worker had come out of a side road without stopping, forcing Ms Small to swerve on to a grass verge, the inquest at Shire Hall, Gloucester, was told.

Ms Small was stepping out when Ms Sutton-Smith's Nova piled into her without warning. Residents who gathered at the scene said they saw Ms Sutton-Smith at the wheel with an enraged expression, revving her engine and spinning the wheels. She was urged to get out of car before she was burnt alive, but the pleas were met with abusive language.

Gloucestershire Coroner Alan Crickmore, who recorded a verdict of accidental death, said the troubled woman had not grasped the life-threatening nature of the situation, due to her condition. Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, causes dramatic mood swings.

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What can you say to that?! Crikey?

[nekokate]

Well she must have had it pretty bad to have gone off the deep end to that extent. I wonder if her doctor knew she was capable of such dramatic swings, and if so why was she allowed to be driving a car instead of receiving the help she needed?!

[faceless]

I'm not sure if you can be stopped from driving in a situation like that. Physically she was probably capable, which is all that really matters. What gets me is that her mood was able to negate the physical pain she was in - that's a real deep end.

[eefanincan]

Typically people who are bipolar don't go off into such a change of mood so quickly..... there tends to be more of a build-up. Still prone to mood swings though.

I'm wondering why the coronor ruled it accidental death though --- sounds more like suicide to me, consdering that she really could have gotten out of the car and chose not to.

[Skylace]

I am agreeing with you eefan. It sounds like a suicide to me. Which wouldn't be surprising if she did have bipolar disorder.

[ItzMeRon]

Sad.