A WYCHBOLD man pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving at Worcester Magistrates Court after an incident in October last year in which Droitwich motorcyclist Nigel Tillett suffered fatal injuries.
John Churchill, 69, of Crown Lane, was given an 18-month driving ban, a 12-month community order and was ordered to undertake 200 hours of unpaid work.
Mr Tillett died after Churchill’s Jaguar turned across his path from a filter lane on the A38 Worceter Road about 8am on October 19.
Mr Tillett, a 46-year-old mental health support worker of Burrish Street, Droitwich, sustained multiple injuries and was taken by ambulance to Birmingham’s QE Hospital. But he died that evening, leaving behind a wife and one-year-old son.
Following the incident, West Mercia Police have urged drivers to take an extra few moments at junctions to look out for other motorists.
PC Dave Ashley, who investigated the Wychbold case, said: “Mr Tillett’s death happened as a result of a mistake by Mr Churchill, a momentary lapse of attention.
“Both Mr Tillett’s family and Mr Churchill will have to live with the tragic consequences for the rest of their lives, but we hope this case will make other drivers remember to pause and take a good look around for motorcyclists before pulling out from junctions or turning across oncoming traffic from filter lanes.”
Motorcyclists account for a fifth of all road death victims each year, although they represent only one per cent of the traffic on the roads.
In 2008, 493 motorcyclists were killed and 5,556 were seriously injured on Britain’s roads but, thanks to safety campaigns, the numbers have fallen to 328 deaths and 5,000 serious injuries in 2012.
“We would like to take this opportunity to reinforce the message about taking that extra millisecond of time to observe the road before making a turn across any type of carriageway.” added PC Ashley.
