Police Conclude Driver Mistook Brake For Accelerator Pedal in London Pedestrian Fatal Crash

by | Mar 25, 2024 | News

This photo of the 2017 Honda CRV which was involved in a pedestrian fatal collision is the only one made publicly available, coming from court exhibits. Even one or two additional photos would help to confirm the basis of police conclusions about what caused the fatal collision. Tire marks located in the upper left corner of this photo show the path of the Honda as it exited Riverside Driver after the impacts.

Some useful details have been revealed in the trial of Metronella McNorgan whose high-speed vehicle killed an eight-year-old pedestrian on November 30, 2021 in London Ontario. News media have reported partial results from a Crash Data Retrieval (CDR) report submitted by the crown alleging McNorgan unintentionally stepped on the accelerator pedal while mistaking it for the brake pedal. This caused her Honda CRV to reach a speed of 121 km/h along Riverside Drive in London.

This photo is another exhibit that was revealed by news media showing the area on the north roadside where the Honda travelled onto the north sidewalk after striking a lamp standard. The struck lamp standard is shown lying in the westbound curb lane of Riverside. While tire marks are visible in the snow-covered boulevard there do not appear to be any tire marks visible on the concrete sidewalk. A similar photo, taken in daylight on the morning of December 1, 2021 is shown below.
This photo was taken on December 1, 2021, at approximately 0930 hours and is similar to the court exhibit photo of the same area. Although tire marks can be seen in the snow-covered grass they are not visible on the concrete sidewalk. Further in the distance the marks from all four tires are visible and indicate that the vehicle is “yawing” or rotating counter clockwise.
This view shows an orange cone where the struck lamp standard stood. The tire marks from the Honda can be seen on the asphalt of the driveway leading up to the impact of the lamp standard. This is shown again in the photo below.
This is a view approaching the point where the Honda struck the lamp standard. Only two tire marks are visible indicating that the Honda is generally pointing in the direction it is travelling although the tire marks begin to diverge shortly afterward.
This view shows the tire marks as the Honda is returning to the road after the impacts. It eventually crossed the road and entered the south roadside. The tire marks here are visible from all four tires as the vehicle rotates counter clockwise. Looking from left to right the tire marks are from the left-front, left-rear, right-front and right-rear. Even the marks from the right-front and right-rear tires are visible on the concrete sidewalk. The front and rear tire marks are converging as they enter the road and his means that the vehicle is straightening out and beginning to point in the direction it is travelling.
Here the tire marks show how the Honda exited Riverside Drive and onto the south roadside. The presence of only two tire marks indicates that the Honda is now pointing in the direction it is travelling.

News media reported that Constable Bradly Yeo was the analyst who conducted the assessment of the data contained in the CDR report. He indicated that the accelerator pedal had been pushed 99 per cent of the way to the floor in the five seconds before the Honda Struck a lamp standard which triggered the recording.

Interestingly it was reported that stability control features in the vehicle activated two seconds before the vehicle struck the lamp standard and this slowed it to 103 km/h. If the Honda was only travelling 103 km/h when it struck the lamp standard then the reported 121 km/h speed must have occurred sometime before, and presumably before the so-called stability control features took effect. If there was only 5-seconds of pre-crash recording then the seconds 5 to 3 seconds before impact were the ones in which the Honda was travelling at 121 km/h, and then the speed was reduced to 103 km/h in the remaining 2 seconds, without the aid of any braking. But this speed reduction would have to occur when the accelerator pedal was pushed 99 per cent of the way to the floor. If braking was not applied then the only way that the Honda reduced its speed is by the stability control system taking over and over-riding the accelerator pedal application. When stability control is activated its purpose is to prevent a vehicle from rotating sideways and this is achieved by applying varying levels of braking to certain wheels so the vehicle points in the direction its travelling. That is an important observation.

During the 2 seconds leading up to the impact with the lamp standard the Honda’s speed was being reduced by about 10 km/h every second and this translates to a rate of deceleration of about .28g. As a comparison, drivers approaching a stop sign typically brake at a rate of .25g. And maximum braking can achieve a deceleration of .7g or higher.

So, to summarize, the police believe that, even though the accelerator pedal was pushed fully to the floor, the stability control system took control and, rather than allowing an acceleration, its caused the Honda to slow down from 121 to 103 km/h before the impact with the lamp standard. Unfortunately news media have not divulged the full contents of the CDR report so it is difficult to conclude whether the conclusions reported by the crown are correct.

It is expected that the defense will call their own expert witness and further conclusions may be made about the CDR data.