Norfolk motorcyclist death trial: Crash site an 'accident blackspot'

The junction where a motorcyclist was killed after a crash with a car driven by a US servicewoman is a "blackspot for accidents", a court heard.

Airman first class Mikayla Hayes, 25, was driving home from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk on 26 August 2022 when she collided with Matthew Day on the A10 at Southery in Norfolk.

Ms Hayes is on trial and denies causing death by careless driving.

The jury was told about the phenomenon of "looked, but failed to see".

Ms Hayes was heading home to Downham Market in Norfolk when she emerged from the B1160 Lynn Road to turn right on to the A10 and pulled into the path of the motorcyclist. He died later.

Jurors at Norwich Crown Court previously heard Ms Hayes claim the bike "appeared to blend into the road".

In agreed facts between prosecution and defence, the court heard there had also been collisions at the site in 2016, 2017, 2019 and early 2023.

Prof Alex Stedmon, an independent road safety consultant called as an expert witness by the defence, said: "For want of a better expression, it appears to be a hotspot [for collisions]."

He said he defined this as where there were "at least four personal injury incidents within a three-year period within a 100-metre diameter".

Under cross-examination from prosecutor Rachel Scott, he accepted that to meet this definition he was working on the number of people injured, and not the number of incidents.

Prof Stedmon described the junction as "complex", and in an agreed fact, read by Ms Scott, jurors were told that "in the specialist area of collision investigation there is a recorded phenomenon of looked, but failed to see".

She added this was also referred to as "sorry mate, I didn't see you".

"The phenomenon doesn't necessarily imply a failure to look adequately or a lapse in concentration," said Ms Scott.

The trial continues.

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