Mum ‘didn’t even see’ moped rider before fatal A46 smash
COURT HEARS DRIVER HAD BEEN ON HANDS-FREE CALL TO HER CHILDREN
A WOMAN was on the phone to her children via a hands-free device in the moments leading up to a fatal crash on the A46, a court has heard.
The collision occurred on the southbound carriageway at Flintham just before 9pm on December 11, 2019.
Natasha Labidi, 40, of Anson Road in Newton, denies causing the death of John Aves by driving without due care and attention in relation to the incident.
Labidi was driving a BMW which collided with the back of a scooter being driven by Mr Aves.
Mr Aves, who rode with “L” plates and only had a provisional licence, was taken to Queen’s Medical Centre where he died two hours later, shortly after 11pm.
The court was shown CCTV footage of Mr Aves’s scooter, which only had a 50CC engine and a maximum speed of 28mph, leaving the car park of the Fox Inn pub in Kelham, Newark, at around 8.25pm.
These vehicles cannot lawfully be ridden on a motorway, but are allowed on dual carriageways such
as the A46.
Labidi, who was pregnant at the time and in the car with her partner, was engaged in a hands-free telephone conversation with her children in the minutes leading up to the collision, Nottingham Magistrates’ Court heard.
She told police in an interview that she hung up the phone “within 30 seconds” of the crash.
Ian Way, prosecuting, read out Labidi’s interview with Louise Melbourne of Nottinghamshire Police during a hearing yesterday.
She told police: “I always phone the kids on the way home.”
She continued: “I didn’t even see him [Mr Aves]. All I remember is the bang – a really loud bang, and the cracking of the windscreen. And he was literally just there in front of me.”
The court also heard from other motorists who witnessed the crash.
One man, who was driving behind both vehicles with his wife in a Toyota Aygo, made contact with Mr Aves after he had been knocked off the scooter. He told the court: “My vehicle hit something in the road which I thought was a dog or a badger or something.
“As I got past it I saw a motorbike in the verge. I then thought it was a person I had hit. I pulled into the side of the road and ran to this man who was moving around in the middle of the road.
“Cars were flying past – it was quite frightening. We moved him about a foot to make him safe. He was obviously in pain, he was groaning and saying ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe’. He was conscious and breathing.”
He then talked to Labidi at the scene, who he describes as “shocked and distressed” – and said she was pleased the man was conscious and talking.
He continued: “She was relieved. She said ‘I thought I had killed him’. I heard the man had passed away afterwards. I was so sad when I heard he had died.”
Another driver, who was travelling ahead of Labidi’s BMW, had moved into the right-hand lane to avoid Mr Aves and his scooter moments before the crash.
They said: “I assumed the vehicle behind made impact with the rear of the moped.
“I saw sparks which I assume were caused by metal of the moped sliding along the road. I didn’t see where the rider went. I drove forward to the next layby, pulled over there and called 999.”
He continued: “The car looked like it kept in a relatively straight line. I remember thinking ‘she’s going to hit him, she hasn’t seen him’.”
PC Stephen Farrell, of Nottinghamshire Police’s serious collisions investigation unit, said: “The collision has occurred because Mrs Labidi failed to recognise the presence of a scooter being ridden in front of her.”
Mr Aves was found to have eight milligrammes of alcohol per 100ml of blood in his system, far below the legal limit for alcohol. No alcohol was found in Labidi’s system and there was no evidence she was breaking the speed limit.
Caroline Abraham, defending, told the court Labidi was not breaking the law by carrying out the telephone conversation on a hands-free device.
The trial continues.