Traffic officer believes driver should have seen crash victim
A traffic police officer has told a jury he believes an American tourist should have seen a motorcyclist coming towards her before turning into his path.
Prison officer Paul Todd died when his Honda Blackbird motorcyle was in collision with a hired Skoda Fabia driven by Barbara Ardell, from Georgia in the USA, last summer.
On the second day of the trial at Inverness, jurors heard from police accident Investigator PC Lewis Macdonald (34) that a survey of the accident scene indicated Ardell should have seen Mr Todd approaching from a distance of about 100 metres.
The jury has heard Ardell was in a filter lane performing a right hand turn into Kingsmills Road when the tragedy happened on the afternoon of July 18 last year.
PC Macdonald said motorists turning right should wait until there is a safe gap to carry out the manoeuvre. As long as the road is clear they do not need to wait for the arrow to turn to green.
"Notwithstanding the motorbike was travelling in excess of 30mph the Skoda driver would have had a clear view of 100 metres," said PC Macdonald.
The officer said their investigations showed from marks on the road they estimated the motor cycle was travelling at a between 31mph and 40mph when the wheels locked and it would have been braking to decelerate before the wheels locked.
Ardell (63) from Dunwoody in Georgia has pleaded not guilty to causing the death of Mr Todd from Alcaig near Conon Bridge by driving carelessly on July 18, 2013.
It is alleged she drove carelessly on Culcabock Road/Damfield Road on July 18 at the Kingsmills junction by carrying out a right-hand turn in the face of the oncoming motor cycle and colliding with it. Mr Todd was seriously injured and later died of chest injuries.
The jury has heard evidence from witnesses who said Mr Todd had overtaken two cars as he approached the junction.
One of the driver, sixty-six year-old Alexander Dickson told police he believed the motor bike could have been ridden at a speed of up to 50mph when it passed him.
Questioned by depute fiscal Roderick Urquhart, Mr Dickson was told Ardell said to police he (Mr Dickson) had told them there was ‘nothing that she could do because she had almost completed the turn and this guy came like a bat out of hell’.
Mr Dickson replied: "I can’t remember saying that but given the sequence of events I would agree."
Teenager Keiren Hardie (19) said he was on his BMX bike at the track nearby in Walker Park when he heard a loud revving noise then realised it was a motor cycle overtaking a car which he could see through a gap in a hedge.
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Seconds later he heard the smash.
He estimated the motor cycle’s speed at between 45mph and 50mph.
Nurse midwife Aileen Calder (49) who went to assist at the crash scene had been overtaken in her car on Damfield Road seconds before the accident.
"I was doing about 30mph. The motorbike was going faster."
Ms Calder said at one stage she heard the motor bike drop down a gear then accelerate.
"I didn’t see the accident. In my mind I heard a thump and the cars in front of me stopped."
Constable Neil Macdonald (31) interviewed Ardell the day after the accident.
In her statement she said her husband was checking the GPS was in the front passenger seat for her but she knew the stretch of road because she had travelled on it before to get to her guest house.
"I downshifted the car into second gear because there was a hill. I looked to see if there was any traffic to onto Kingsmills. It was completely clear."
She said she began to turn and then there was a ‘flash then a crash’.
"I turned to my husband and said - what’s happened?’
"He said ‘I’ve no idea’. He obviously didn’t see anything. I was stunned."
Ardell continued in her statement that she turned off the car engine but couldn’t get out.
"Then we knew it was a motor cycle. I just sat there and said ‘Oh my God. Oh my God.’
The trial continues.