A CROSSING on which a Stourbridge police driver ploughed into a student was so poorly laid out for pedestrians that it "contravenes the Department of Transport's own regulations", a court has heard.

Pc Vaughan Lowe’s unmarked police BMW had its blue lights and siren on when it hit Chinese student Zhang Xuan Wei on a pelican crossing on the A34 New Town Row, Birmingham.

The 24-year-old died the following day after suffering devastating injuries.

Pc Lowe, aged 43, a West Midlands Police advanced driver, has pleaded not guilty at Warwick Crown Court to causing Wei’s death in April 2012 by careless driving.

The officer’s barrister has argued that by sprinting onto the crossing the Birmingham City University student created a hazard that even someone driving at 12mph would have had difficulty avoiding.

Wei and a friend were going to the Newtown shopping centre at about 7pm to get a take-away, but after crossing one side of the dual carriageway the 24-year-old student was hit as he ‘walked or jogged’ onto the pelican crossing to cross the outbound carriageway.

It is alleged by prosecutor Graham Reeds QC that although Lowe, who was responding to an ‘immediate response’ call, had reduced his speed from 62 to 52mph, he was still driving too fast.

But Brian Dean, defending, told the jury: “There’s something strange about the law. You can have permission to drive at 70 or 60mph on a stretch of road, but if anything goes wrong we can prosecute you.

“There’s an element of ridiculousness about the position, but you have to apply the law as it stands."

He urged the jury to take into account four things: the crossing, the pedestrian, the driving and the collision - and he added: "After crossing one section of the dual carriageway pedestrians have to go up steps to cross the outbound carriageway where there is a wall either side of the mouth of the crossing.

“Above all else the layout is bad. A blind spot is created for a pedestrian. Nothing has been done to help motorists or pedestrians, such as staggered railings.

“This crossing contravenes the Department of Transport’s own regulations. The view is worryingly limited."

Mr Dean said the prosecution was trying to "make Pc Vaughan Lowe criminally liable for the layout and for Mr Zhang’s unexpected, unpredictable, reckless conduct" and he added: "He either didn’t hear the sirens or see the flashing two-tone lights, or did see and thought he could make it across the road and took a chance that he could do so.

“The sound of the sirens was distinctive and very loud. The pedestrians failed to pay proper regard to that.

“Mr Zhang did not look when he got to the edge of the kerb; Mr Zhang did not look before he got to the crossing; Mr Zhang did not pay any heed to the Highway Code; Mr Zhang did not look properly at all. He sprinted.

“There’s a fair chance, you might think, he thought it was safe because he had the wrong impression of what the green man flashing may have meant.

“What he did was create a hazard that someone travelling at less than 12mph within the confines of the crossing would have difficulty avoiding.

“It doesn’t matter whether you were brought up in Birmingham or Dorset, you were brought up to look before crossing the road; and children here and no doubt in China are taught not to run out into the road.

“Hazards are created, but it’s said the driver on his way to an emergency is the one at fault. With the benefit of hindsight we can all be critical of the actions of others; but this was completely unexpected."

Of Lowe’s driving, Mr Dean said: “He was attentive and alert and careful. He is immensely experienced. He was engaged in a legitimate emergency run.

“He had done the same thing thousands of times in 18 years of police advanced driving. He had got it right on every occasion. He had never crashed or been given a speeding ticket.

“He deployed his lights and siren properly. He selected the clearest lane, the bus lane."

Mr Dean said Pc Lowe was "taking care to react to the conditions" as he moved to the third lane - as he saw someone crossing towards the nearside, and he added: “The vehicle dramatically reduced speed as he approached the crossing, before even the realisation that someone had come onto the crossing.

“The collision occurred after this driver had driven properly and sensibly, albeit with permission in law to exceed the speed limit.

“The hazard that confronted him could have confronted any of us, even at quite a slow speed, and been unavoidable. This is a situation which was not of his making.”

The trial continues.