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Van driver in court accused of dangerous driving in Oxford
Wearing a dark navy suit, white shirt and tie, Leigh Kuenhel, 46, of Elizabeth Avenue, Newbury, pleaded not guilty to causing Shirley Pike serious injury by careless driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
The Ford Connect van driver is accused of knocking down retired academic Dr Pike at the junction of Woodstock and Osberton roads in North Oxford on August 4 last year.
Recorder Samantha Presland fixed his trial for April 22 next year, with the case expected to last two to three days.
She bailed the defendant, who spoke only to confirm his name and his not guilty pleas, with a condition not to drive any motor vehicle in a public place.
“You have to understand if you get in front of the wheel of a car, even if it is stationary, you are in breach of your bail conditions,” she said.
Last year, Dr Pike reportedly suffered a broken pelvis and ribs, damage to her liver and lungs, and a bleed on her brain.
Together with other residents at retirement apartment block Charles Ponsonby House, off Woodstock Road, the academic was said to have written to Oxfordshire County Council in recent years asking for road safety improvements in the area.
The 89-year-old was reportedly trying to cross Woodstock Road from Osberton Road, where Charles Ponsonby House is situated, when she was struck.
From the John Radcliffe Hospital, Dr Pike’s son Justin told the Oxford Mail last August of his mother’s safety concerns about the road: “She sent a letter to the council but obviously we don’t know if it went any further than that.
“There’s a high concentration of old people in that area.”
Responding to the concerns raised about road safety in the area, a county council spokesman said: “The county council monitors accident statistics on all roads in Oxfordshire and it is important to establish the cause of each accident.”
PC Julia Stroud, of the Serious Collision Investigation Unit at Bicester police station, last August appealed for any witnesses to the crash to come forward.
“We’d also ask anyone with dash cams and who was in the area around the time of this incident to please check any footage in case it may have captured something that could assist with our investigation,” she added.
