Driver accused on crash that killed motorcyclist
A motorcyclist died when he was thrown 130ft from his bike, which became engulfed in flames after hitting a car that pulled out from a junction, a court heard.
Richard Edmonds, aged 82, allegedly caused the 'massive' crash that led to the death of Allan Green, of Cradley Heath. Edmonds had to be pulled from his Vauxhall Corsa.
Just after bystanders freed him, his car burst into flames, too. Prosecutors accuse Edmonds, of Dowles Road, Bewdley, of driving without due care and attention, thereby causing the death of Mr Green.
He denies the charge. The court heard Edmonds emerged from Six Ashes Road at the crossroads junction with the A458 at Six Ashes near Wolverhampton at around 2pm on October 30, 2012.
Edmonds was literary editor for the Birmingham Post at the time of the crash.
Mr Andrew Jackson, prosecuting, said: "Mr Edmonds said he had been to discuss the framing of one of his pictures with a man near Sedgley and thereafter decided to drive to see an old house about which he had apparently written a story. That wish had taken him to the crossroads."
But he pulled into the path of a BMW R1200 motorbike being ridden by Mr Green, a 66-year-old married father of two who lived in Gawne Lane, the court heard.
The crash sent the car and bike spinning, throwing Mr Green into a roadside sign near the Six Ashes pub, before both vehicles caught fire. He died at the scene, Stafford Crown Court heard yesterday.
Mr Jackson told the court Edmonds had 'failed to look properly when crossing'.
"According to the experts and their calculations Mr Green on his motorcycle would have been in the range of vision of Mr Edmonds as he started to move from the junction to effect his crossing of the A458," he said.
The trial continues.
