Wakefield driver 'failed to see' tragic bikers
Two bikers were killed after a woman drove carelessly at a traffic calming chicane, a jury heard.
Experienced mororcyclists Andrew Burns, 45, and Wayne Walker, 39, died after being hit by a Ford Fiesta driven by Claire Cooper, 26, on Standbridge Lane, Kettlethorpe, Wakefield, on February 13 last year.
Leeds Crown Court heard how the two friends had entered the S-bend of the chicane as Cooper, travelling in the opposite direction, was around 19 metres from give way markings on the approach to the traffic calming measure.
Mark McKone, prosecuting, said Cooper failed to see the two men and continued to enter the chicane.
Mr Burns was thrown from his Harley Davidson machine and had his leg amputated in the impact.
Mr Walker was then struck and hit his head on the bonnet of the car before sliding along the footpath at the side of the road.
Mr McKone said: "The defendant simply did not see that the motorcyclists were within the chicane."
"She failed to see the motorcyclists and it is her failure to see them which makes her driving careless. Particularly as there is a clear view through the chicane, albeit it was dusk, but the motorcyclists had their lights on."
Cooper, of Marshall Avenue, Hall Green, Wakefield, denies two charges of causing death by careless driving. Mr Burns, from Wakefield, and Mr Walker, from Selby, were riding back from Derbyshire at the time of the crash.
Mr McKone said all three vehicles were travelling within the 30mph speed limit when the incident took place. He said there were no witnesses to the collision other then Cooper and her boyfriend.
She said "There was nothing there at all. I was going back to my side of the road and there was just a bright light in front of me. She added: "I saw the bright light and I heard a bang about a second after."
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