A WOMAN who died after a crash on the A34 was being driven to the doctor's by her carer, a trial has heard.

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.

Both women were later charged with causing death by careless driving and are standing trial at Oxford Crown Court.

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Ms Bachelor was a resident at Home Farm Trust in Milton Heights, a home which supports adults with learning disabilities.

Harkins, 66, is a carer at the home and had been taking Ms Bachlelor, known as Susie, to her GP surgery in Abingdon at the time of the crash.

On Thursday (March 7), Harkins gave evidence on the stand, telling the jury she knew the A34 ‘well’.

She said she was driving in the slow lane when she saw Williams’s BMW pull out in front of her.

Harkins added: “It’s a very dangerous road and I’ve never been complacent on that road. Obviously, I’m sat looking forward, I’ve got Susie in the back.

“I tend to stay in the slowest lane even before this happened, I don’t like the fast lane, it’s just too fast for me.

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“I’ve never gone faster than 60mph, I kept my eyes on the road. I always check my mirrors.”

When asked why she didn’t slow down when she saw the BMW, she said: “[I thought] whatever her problem was they would then speed up and carry on - I just carried on as I was.”

Harkins said she could not recall what happened in the six seconds from spotting the BMW to the airbags being deployed.

When asked if she thought she was driving carelessly, Harkins started to cry.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t think I was but obviously I must have been. I saw [the BMW] pulling out, I assumed it was going to gather speed.”

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Harkins said she felt ‘absolutely awful’ when she found out Ms Bachelor had died.

“I had a good relationship with Susie,” she said. “I would often take her out shopping and then we’d have a pub lunch together. She was a very lovely person.”

Both women, who have clean driving and criminal records, deny the offence.

The trial of Williams, of Priors Dean Road, Winchester, and Harkins, of Green Road, Didcot, continues.