DRIVER NOT GUILTY OVER FATAL CRASH
A DRIVER has been found not guilty of causing the death of a motorcyclist father-offive who died following a crash on the A48. Porthcawl man Adam Rose, pictured, was on his Kawasaki bike when he collided with a car on the A48 Margam roundabout.
A DRIVER has been found not guilty of causing the death of a motorcyclist father-of-five who died following a crash on the A48.
Adam Rose was on his Kawasaki bike when he collided with a slowmoving car on the A48 Margam roundabout. The biker suffered catastrophic injuries in the collision, and died in hospital 13 days later.
The driver of the Audi car involved in the crash – Cameron Gibbs from Cwmavon – was charged with causing death by careless driving but was acquitted following a trial at Swansea Crown Court.
The court had previously heard that on the afternoon of July 16, 2019, Tata Steel worker Mr Gibbs stopped his Audi A3 in the bus stop on the Margam Park side of the roundabout to use his phone to call work as he had been unable to return to the steelworks because of an unrelated crash and road closure.
After checking what he should do, he then moved off slowly in the direction of Pyle with the intention of making a U-turn or a right turn to rejoin the roundabout and go onto the M4 motorway.
Moments after he rejoined the carriageway Porthcawl man Mr Rose, who was riding in the same direction and was overtaking a number of other vehicles, crashed into the back of the defendant’s car.
It was the prosecution’s case that the U-turn manoeuvre by 27-yearold Mr Gibbs was “not necessary nor required” in the circumstances, and was a manoeuvre which other road users could not have anticipated or expected.
The defence argued that when Mr Gibbs rejoined the A48 from the bus stop he did so safely – there were no oncoming vehicles which would have delayed or prevented the U-turn, and there was sufficient space between the Audi and the traffic coming up behind. It was put before the jury that he could not reasonably have expected Mr Rose to perform the overtaking manoeuvre he did.
It was agreed by both defence and prosecution that due to the position of both parties and other vehicles on the road at the time, neither would have been able to see the other when the Audi first emerged from the bus stop. Mr Gibbs, of Cefn Coed Road, Cwmavon, was found not guilty of causing death by careless driving.
The court heard 47-year-old Mr Rose was tended to at the scene by an off-duty policeman and fellow biker who arrived shortly after the smash.
The patient was then treated by paramedics before being rushed to Morriston Hospital and into surgery. On July 22 he went into cardiac arrest and though his blood circulation was restored he had suffered severe brain damage. His condition deteriorated over the following week, and he died on July 29.