Safe Speed Forums

A motorcyclist accused of causing the death of a woman by dangerous driving has told a court that he was not responsible for the accident.
Elizabeth Jepson, 65, was fatally injured while walking along the pavement of Bolton Road, Ashton, when the motor bike ploughed into her.

The rider, Matthew Phair told the jury at Liverpool Crown Court: "I feel responsible for her dying but not the accident."

Asked about his driving before the accident he described it as: "Not dangerous. I reckon it was good."

The court has heard that he lost control of his 600cc machine when the driver of a Vauxhall Frontera turned right across his path to go into the Tesco supermarket.

Peter Cadwallader, prosecuting, alleged that Phair had been driving "too fast, at a dangerous idiotic speed."

He said that the Frontera may have contributed to the accident as it turned right across Phair's path. The driver had clearly had not seen the motorbike until the last second, possibly because of the machine's speed.

"Whatever your conclusions are in relation to the Vauxhall Frontera it is the Crown's contention that the defendant was at least partly to blame due to his dangerously high speed," said Mr Cadwallader.

Phair, 22, said that he had been travelling at "roughly 40mph" along the 30mph road at the time. He saw the 4x4 coming the opposite way and indicating to turn right.

"He started to move and then hesitated. He was partly in my carriageway but I still had room to get through. I thought he had seen me and stopped so I carried on.

"I got nearer still, pretty much on top of him, and he pulled across quickly. I did not think he would do that. I slammed on my back brake and then let go of it and I threw the bike down on its side and went round in front of it. I hit the kerb in front of the garage forecourt and it bounced."

The court was told that as well as ploughing into Mrs Jepson, of Greenfields Crescent, Ashton, the bike also struck a wall and electricity box. Phair had no recollection of any of the collisions.

He was seriously injured in the crash on Sunday, July 10, last year.

Phair, of Fourth Street, Bamfurlong, denies causing the death of Mrs Jepson by driving dangerously.

I slammed on my back brake and then let go of it and I threw the bike down on its side and went round in front of it. I hit the kerb in front of the garage forecourt and it bounced."

OK, I'm no biker but that sounds like "screw anyone else, I'm getting out of here".

Yes the Frontera is to blame for the initial accident but the bike rider admits to deliberatley allowing his vehicle to go out of control.

He also failed to assume all other road users are numpties otherwise he would have seen this one coming.

He started to move and then hesitated. He was partly in my carriageway but I still had room to get through. I thought he had seen me and stopped so I carried on.

I would have continued, with caution. You can't be certain that someone who appears to be looking at you isn't looking past you (or just looking at a bug on his windscreen), especially when you are riding a bike.

I see that you're not a biker! "Laying down the bike" when all else fails can be a life-saver. Thankfully, I only needed to do it twice in my couple of decades of riding

And bikers really should be more aware of numpties than the rest of us.

Most of us ARE more aware of numpties, that's why we're still alive. For all we know, the rider might have only just passed his test. The fact that he's 22, riding a 600cc bike and admits to using the BACK brake would suggest to me that he'd not long passed DAS.

Is that not littering?

But seriously, I agree with you Will. At the end of the day, yes - maybe the biker should have expected the Frontera to pull in front of him (after all, it is a 4x4, with associated attitude!) but you can't attribute an accident to being the fault of the innocent party, just because they didn't expect someone to pull across them.

Absolutely not EPA 1990 s.87 (2) provides that no offence is committed under this section where the depositing of the thing is authorised by law. Now the law doesn't make any stipulation that the thing has to be the right way up. The biker has a licence and the bike presumably had a VED...

Homer, you've already admitted that you're not a biker and that's really rather odd statement.

From what I've read here my guess is 50/50 - Frontera for pulling across and the motorcyclist for assuming that he wouldn't restart.

Just an of the cuff judgment.

But as an advanced driver, I would be kicking myself all round the room if I'd done what the biker did.

I think I can bridge the gap between Mrs Miggins and Safety Engineer.

Mrs Miggins is really talking about legal 'blameworthyness'.

Safety Engineer is really talking a missed opportunity to avoid.

Most two vehicles crashes fall into a general pattern where one makes a mistake and the other fails to avoid the mistake of the first.

In legal term the Frontera is virtually 100% to blame.

But as an advanced driver, I would be kicking myself all round the room if I'd done what the biker did.

... or the motorist

admits to using the BACK brake would suggest to me that he'd not long passed DAS. (Conjecture I know, but I find it hard to believe that an experienced rider would have made the same error.