Court hears biker was driving "like a bat out of Hell" moments before fatal Inverness crash
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A BIKER killed in a road crash at a busy Inverness road junction was driving "like a bat out of Hell" in the moments before the collision, Inverness Sheriff Court has heard.
Paul Todd died after his motorbike collided with a car being driven by an American tourist at traffic lights in Kingsmills on 18th July last year.
Barbara Ardell is accused of causing Mr Todd’s death by careless driving at the Culcabock Road junction. Ardell (63), from Dunwoody in the US state of Georgia, denies the charge.
Depute fiscal Roderick Urquhart told the court that during her interview with police Ardell said Alexander Dickson, a motorist who had been overtaken by Mr Todd moments before the fatal smash, had told her: "There is nothing you could have done. You had almost fully completed the turn and this guy came like a bat out of hell."
Giving evidence himself yesterday, Mr Dickson said: "I cannot remember saying exactly that but the sequence of events I would agree with.
"It was extremely noticeable the speed he passed me at. He was doing 40mph to 45mph and for all I know he was continuing to accelerate towards the lights. He obviously braked at some point. All I was aware was the bike went down and slid into the car."
He did not think Ardell was to blame for the collision.
Fellow eyewitness Paul Fraser from Aberdeen was behind Ardell’s Skoda in a filter lane about to turn right when the motorbike approached the junction from the opposite direction.
"I just saw the Skoda turn right and the motorcycle going into the side of the car," he said. "I saw him coming off the bike when it hit the car. The bike was still continuing along the road. It was not a pleasant thing to see."
Another witness, 19-year-old trainee linesman Keiren Hardie, told the court he was on a BMX bike at a track in Walker Park when he heard a "loud revving noise" and realised it was a motorcycle accelerating past Mr Dickson’s car at speeds he estimated to be between 40mph and 45mph. He lost sight of the bike behind a hedge moments before he heard the "bang of the crash".
Paramedic Kevin Stuart said Mr Todd, from Conon Bridge, had no pulse and was not breathing when he arrived at the scene.
The trial continues.
