RAF Lakenheath servicewoman failed to see fatal crash biker - trial

Motorcyclist Matthew Day died after the crash with the car in the village of Southery in Norfolk

A father-of-one who was killed when a US servicewoman emerged from a junction in front of him was "there to be seen", a crash investigator told court.

Airman first class Mikayla Hayes, 25, was driving home from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk to Downham Market in Norfolk on 26 August 2022 when Matthew Day's motorbike collided with her car.

Ms Hayes is on trial and denies causing death by careless driving.

Jurors were told she claimed the bike "appeared to blend into the road".

Thirty-three-year-old Mr Day's Yamaha motorbike struck her Honda Accord as she emerged from the B1160 Lynn Road turning right onto the A10. He later died.

PC Lee Smart, a forensic collision investigator with Norfolk Constabulary, told Norwich Crown Court that the cause of the collision was the "failure to identify the motorbike approaching the junction, then the Honda emerging into the southbound lane".

Mr Smart said that hedgerow along Lynn Road stopped 15m (49ft) before the carriageway of the A10.

Mr Day's Yamaha motorbike struck the Honda Accord as she emerged from the B1160 Lynn Road turning right onto the A10.

Prosecutor Rachel Scott said Ms Hayes told police, when asked why she did not see the bike, that it did not have lights and "appeared to blend with the road and sky".

Mr Smart said that the type of headlight on the motorbike meant "if the engine's running and the headlight's working, the headlight should illuminate".

He said a motorist waiting at the junction would see the "grey-coloured road surface on which the white lines were painted, and hedgerow".

"At no point would the backdrop be the sky," he said.

He estimated Mr Day's speed at 50mph (80km/h), but cautioned that he could not be certain.

Jurors were told how an expert witness, instructed by the defence, thought the motorcyclist reacted "slower" than he should have done

"My view differed," said Mr Smart, adding that there was not "sufficient evidence to say he reacted slowly".

The trial continues.