This is my statement to police about dangerous driving I witnessed near my work last Thursday. A bloke suddenly reversed a ute without looking behind him and nearly cleaned up a pedestrian. I’m still feeling pretty angry about it but having channelled my feelings into this statement, now I can let it go, although there’s every chance the police are too busy to do anything. I do get really worked up when I see dangerous driving, cars just calculatedly running red lights etc. I probably got extra angry in this case because the pedestrian was me.
On Thursday 30 March 2023 between 1.00pm and 1.05pm I was walking in Trafalgar Lane in the Hobart CBD towards Macquarie Street. I walked around a truck from Artfast Removals and continued on the north side footpath towards Macquarie Street. A ute passed me going in the other direction, and I began crossing the lane to the south side.
I then heard and saw the ute reversing towards me at speed. A woman nearby screamed as I scrambled backwards and got far enough out of the way that the ute only ran over my left toe before it halted. I was fortunately not injured. I was wearing workboots and my foot is fine, but it was very close to smashing my knee and /or knocking me down.
The ute was new, metallic purple, with a hard cover over the tray, with Artfast Removals on the side. I think the rego was ARTFST. The driver was early 60s about 175cm with white hair, beard and glasses. He seemed unhappy with the driver of the truck. I have established, from asking colleagues that have dealt with the company, that the driver was almost certainly Peter Clarke, director of Artfast.
I approached the drivers side expecting the driver to get out and apologise. He made no move to do so, so I smacked his window with my open hand. He then got out and told me not to touch his car. I asked if he had seen me, and did he know he had ran over my toe? He replied I should get my toe looked at and that he would give me a business card. He did not, he gave me a magnet with the Artfast phone number and email address. He did not give me his name. He repeated that I should not touch his car. I was very angry at his priorities so I left immediately to cool down and avoid further confrontation.
I have emailed (30/3 and 31/3) and sent a text message (2/4) to the business asking for a written apology but have had no reply.
He and I are both very fortunate his impulsive driving didn't put me in hospital. As Artfast/Mr Clarke have not responded to me I would like police to check CCTV from the lane at that time. I believe it was dangerous driving that has to be deterred in a city lane with heavy pedestrian traffic. I do not have any video evidence to upload.
I was really angry. Then I calmed down as I went on my way – I was going to Salamanca to buy fruit for the office fruit bowl. I felt lucky to be unhurt, and thought about my family and how fortunate I am; if the worst was to happen I think they are all set up well to get on OK without me.
I wrote and asked for an apology, because as I was not injured it seems fairly low on the list of incidents police should have to worry about. All it required was for old mate to apologise and, crucially – trust me when I said that would be the end of it, and I would not leverage his apology as an admission of guilt and take it further. It would cost him nothing. I also asked for a statement that he would be more careful driving in future which was cheeky. But why not? He wasn't going to be made to look at pictures of accidents etc which the police do if you they charge you with dangerous driving.
I stayed on the right side of badgering him but wanted to be 100% sure he had this message. Although given abundant time, he did not respond. You can speculate as to his thought process here but he clearly doesn’t have any concerns about me taking it to the police, or about me casting shade on his reputation.
