12 December 2023 , 22:04
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A US servicewoman driving home from work screamed “I didn’t see him” after causing the death of a motorcyclist, a court has heard.
Mikayla Hayes, 25, is accused of careless driving after pulling from a junction and into the path of Matthew Day’s bike on August 26 last year.
Airman first class Hayes was travelling from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk to her home in Downham Market in Norfolk when the tragedy happened.
Rachel Scott, prosecuting, said witnesses stated that Hayes emerged from the B1160 Lynn Road turning right on to the A10 at Southery in Norfolk, towards Downham Market.
Father-of-one Mr Day, 33, who was travelling south on the A10 on a red and white Yamaha motorbike, collided with the defendant’s maroon-coloured Honda Accord and died of his injuries later that day. Hayes denies causing death by careless driving.
Father-of-one Mr Day, 33, died of his injuries on August 26 last year (PA)Ms Scott said the collision happened just before 4pm and driving conditions were good. She said traffic was “fairly heavy which was normal for that time of afternoon on a Friday”. The prosecutor said that Hayes pulled into the path of the motorbike as it approached and Mr Day was “thrown into the air and landed in the mouth of the Lynn Road junction”. She said a witness who was driving in front of Mr Day on the A10 said the motorcyclist was matching her speed, which was “well under 60mph”.
Ms Scott said a second witness, an experienced motorcyclist who was waiting behind Hayes at the junction in Lynn Road, said he “saw her head turning from side to side” as she waited. The witness said he saw Mr Day’s motorbike approaching and saw Hayes drive forward and collide with Mr Day’s motorbike. Another witness, who was on his way home from work when he saw the aftermath of the collision and stopped, said Hayes “kept saying ‘I didn’t see him”’, said Ms Scott.
The prosecutor said the witness reported that Hayes “said ‘I stopped, looked both ways, pulled out and didn’t see him”’. In an interview with police she said she was driving home from work taking her “normal route home”. Ms Scott said: “She said she looked both ways and saw a clear passageway both left and right, looked again to make sure it was clear then pulled out.”
The defendant reported that she saw Mr Day’s motorbike when she was “at the halfway point of her turn”, Ms Scott said, and he hit her car. Ms Scott said Hayes said the colour of the motorbike “appeared to blend into the road and sky”. Both vehicles were examined and no faults were found that would have contributed to the collision.
Hayes was breathalysed and drugs tested and the results were both negative, and there was no evidence she was using her phone, Ms Scott said. She said tests on Mr Day found a “low concentration of THC”, indicating he had taken cannabis at some point before the collision. “The evidence doesn’t suggest he failed to react appropriately when Miss Hayes pulled out in front of him,” Ms Scott said. She said that experts for the defence and prosecution agree that “nothing about the road, the weather or the driving conditions was a factor”.
Ms Scott said: “They also agree that the main cause of the collision was Miss Hayes pulling out from a side road into the path of a motorbike that had priority.” She said that experts disagree about how many seconds there were between Hayes pulling out and the collision, and how many seconds Mr Day had to react. She added: “The issue at the heart of this case is whether the defendant’s driving fell below the standard expected of a careful and competent driver. The prosecution case is there’s no good reason why Miss Hayes didn’t see Mr Day’s motorbike.”
The trial continues.