A RALLY driver whose car struck and killed three spectators on a stage was seen walking around in apparent shock afterwards and overheard saying: “I think I have taken lives”.
Engineer Conor McRae, who was watching the Jim Clark Rally with his father, told a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) yesterday that the competitor had his hands on his head after he realised what had happened.
The car had lost control on a humpedback bridge where, according to another fan, they were reaching speeds of up to 85mph.
Photographer, Iain Provan, 64, Elizabeth Allan, 63, and 71-year old Len Stern died in the incident in the Borders in May 2014.
Mr McRae, 23, of Chirnside, told the joint FAI being held at Edinburgh Sheriff Court into four deaths at two rally events that the area was popular for fans as they could see the cars “jump” over the bridge which spans the Lee Water.
He said he could see people standing on either side of the road at a point where a car had come off the course earlier in the day, and in neighbouring woods, as he walked there with his father.
Under cross-examination by advocate depute, Andrew Brown QC, Mr McRae was asked if he had seen course marshals moving fans.
He replied: “Trying to,” before adding: “Nine times out of 10, they move and then they move back to where they were”.
The people included two photographers in green tabards, he said.
Mr McRae told the FAI they were “pretty stupid” to be in the place where they were standing.
He added one of the photographers stepped on to the road, once or twice to take photographs and then moved back.
Mr McRae, who knew the co-driver of the car involved in the crash, said he saw it come down from the bridge with another car close behind.
He told the hearing the second car “bumped and squiggled”.
Mr McRae added he then saw dust being thrown up and a high visibility green jacket “up in the air, but could not make out what it was”.
It was followed by a rush of people running towards the scene. Mr McRae said he then heard someone shouting: “They’re deid”.
Mr McRae said the co-driver of the crashed car asked his father to try to make sure nobody took photographs.
He added the driver was “really upset. He had his head in his hands and just didn’t know where to look and said ‘I think I’ve taken lives’.”
His father Derek McRae, 51, told the FAI: “I knew people had been hurt. I think we were in shock for a few seconds.
“I remember people trying to stop other cars coming down. Other people were making their way down to the scene to see if they could help and there were other people in the field trying to assist the injured”.
He said the drivers’ were out of the crashed car and in a state of shock.
He said he heard the driver say something like “I think I have taken lives or taken a life”.
Mark Fisher, a rally co-driver and navigator who was spectating that day, said the cars were coming over the bridge at speeds of 80 to 85 mph.
He added he would not have gone into the area where some of the spectators were, adding: “The blase attitude by spectators has to change.”
Callum Shanks, 25, said two young marshals had earlier asked spectators to move from the road, but the men had been “quite cheeky” to them.
The FAI before Sheriff Kenneth Maciver QC was adjourned until Monday.
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