Motorcyclist killed by US servicewoman was ‘there to be seen’

The motorcyclist who was knocked down and killed by a US servicewoman, after she emerged from a junction in entrance him, was ‘there to be seen’, a crash investigator informed a court docket. 

Airman top notch Mikayla Hayes, 25, drove her Honda Accord into the trail of father-of-one Matthew Day on August 26 final yr as he travelled south alongside the A10 at Southery, Norfolk.

Hayes, who had been travelling from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk to her dwelling in Downham Market in Norfolk, had emerged from the B1160 Lynn Road turning proper onto the A10.

The court docket had beforehand heard the US service girl sobbing as he she saved repeating ‘I did not see him’ after her automobile collided with the 33-year-old’s Yamaha motorcycle. 

Mr Day died of his accidents later that day, Norwich Crown Court was informed.

Airman top notch Mikayla Hayes, 25, drove her Honda Accord into the trail of father-of-one Matthew Day on August 26 final yr

She denies inflicting Mr Day’s demise by careless driving, and informed police she didn’t see him.

Pc Lee Smart, a forensic collision investigator with Norfolk Police, informed Norwich Crown Court: ‘It will surely appear he was there to be seen.’

He mentioned the reason for the collision was the ‘failure to determine the motorcycle approaching the junction, then the Honda rising into the southbound lane’.

Mr Smart mentioned that hedgerow alongside Lynn Road stopped 15 metres earlier than the carriageway of the A10.

Prosecutor Rachel Scott mentioned Hayes informed police, when requested why she didn’t see the bike, that it didn’t have lights and ‘appeared to mix with the highway and sky’.

Mr Smart mentioned that the kind of headlight on the motorcycle meant ‘if the engine’s operating and the headlight’s working the headlight ought to illuminate’.

He mentioned the view for a motorist ready on the junction would come with the ‘grey-coloured highway floor on which the white traces had been painted, and hedgerow’.

‘At no level would the backdrop be the sky,’ he mentioned.

 Father-of-one Matthew Day died of his accidents later that day, Norwich Crown Court was informed

Hayes, who had been travelling from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk to her dwelling in Downham Market in Norfolk, had emerged from the B1160 Lynn Road turning proper onto the A10 (Pictured: Flowers had been left in conjunction with the A10 at Southery in Norfolk)

Airman top notch Mikayla Hayes, 25, arriving at Norwich Crown Court together with her household

He estimated Mr Day’s pace at 50mph however cautioned that he had ‘nothing to calculate that precisely from – it is from the data within the witness statements’.

Asked by Ms Scott about factors of disagreement with an knowledgeable witness instructed by the defence, Mr Smart mentioned: ‘I feel primarily the principle factor we disagree on is whether or not Mr Day reacted slowly to the Honda rising from the junction.’

He mentioned defence knowledgeable witness Robert Wagstaff ‘thought it was slower than a rider ought to have reacted’.

‘My view differed,’ mentioned Mr Smart.

He mentioned he didn’t imagine there was ‘adequate proof to say he reacted slowly’.

The officer mentioned the gap between the motorcycle and the automobile when the automobile emerged just isn’t recognized with ‘any certainty’.

He mentioned that at that second, Mr Day ‘may very well be listening to the driving force within the slip highway, checking his mirrors, his pace’.

He mentioned Mr Day could have been checking to see whether or not any oncoming automobiles had been indicating to show proper into Lynn Road.

‘If he was doing so that might have delayed his response time,’ he mentioned.

Eyewitness Graeme Pratt earlier informed the trial that he noticed the entrance of the bike dip earlier than the collision, including: ‘I’m presuming the rider grabbed the entrance brake – I watched the entrance of the bike dip, which is generally pulling the entrance brake.’

The trial continues.