TWO women are on trial accused of causing the death of a 63-year-old woman after a crash on the A34.
Susan Bachelor died a day after a collision on the northbound carriageway between the Milton and Marcham junctions at 2.42pm on Wednesday, September 4 2019.
The crash involved a silver BMW estate, driven by Emma Williams, and a silver Ford C-Max, driven by Elaine Harkins with Ms Bachelor as a passenger.
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All three women were taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Headington with the drivers having suffered minor injuries. Ms Bachelor died the following day from severe whiplash.
Oxford Crown Court.
Both women were later charged with causing death by careless driving and are standing trial atThey both deny the offence.
At the start of trial on Monday (March 4), the court heard that Williams, 29, had pulled the BMW estate into a layby after driving the vehicle for about 45 minutes to an hour.
She had pulled over to ‘sort out the radio’ before driving out of the layby northbound into the slow lane.
However, she was seen to pull out on the A34 slowly and was ‘not accelerating’.
A witness in a motorhome nearby heard the car revving but it was not moving.
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Williams told police she had her foot down but the car was not moving. It is the Crown’s case that she had the car in neutral.
Harkins, driving the Ford C-Max, was driving towards the BMW.
A witness said the Ford was driving the speed limit, if not less, before the crash.
Speaking to police, Harkins, 81, said she had seen the BMW pull out but it was ‘quite far away’ and she thought there was ‘plenty of time’.
However, she said ‘the next thing she knew, the car airbags had gone off’.
An ambulance happened to be driving down the A34 at the time of the crash and was able to immediately stop and help the women at about 2.42pm.
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Another ambulance and rapid response vehicle were sent to the scene and the road was closed off until about 5pm.
Speaking to the jury, the prosecuting barrister said: “This was not an accident but these two women, the standard of their driving fell below that of a careless and competent driver, and they were driving without due care and attention and it was that driving that caused the death of Susan Bachelor.”
The trial of Williams, of Priors Dean Road, Winchester, and Harkins, of Green Road, Didcot, continues.
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