Death crash driver’s licence is endorsed
A SPEEDING lorry driver involved in an accident in which a teenage motorist died had his licence endorsed by Huntingdon magistrates. Graham Salmon, 48, was driving north along the A1198 when he was involved in the collision with a Vauxhall Corsa, driven b
A SPEEDING lorry driver involved in an accident in which a teenage motorist died had his licence endorsed by Huntingdon magistrates.
Graham Salmon, 48, was driving north along the A1198 when he was involved in the collision with a Vauxhall Corsa, driven by 17-year-old Michael Nutkins, a Kimbolton School student.
The teenager, from Hilton, who had passed his driving test 20 days previously, died at the scene.
The court heard Salmon's Daf Tipper lorry, carrying 30 tonnes of waste recycling material, had been travelling at 55mph on a road where the limit is 40mph for that class of vehicle.
In what prosecutor John Goodier described as a "tragic case", magistrates heard that Mr Nutkins was turning right out of the London Road junction at Godmanchester on to the A1198 towards Papworth, when the collision occurred.
Analysis of the lorry's tachograph revealed that the vehicle had been speeding at several points along its journey from Royston and was travelling at 55mph less than one kilometre from the crash scene.
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The impact occurred at 35mph, Mr Goodier said.
During a police interview, Salmon, of Back Road, Murrow, said the reason he had been driving at a higher speed was because he was "trying to keep a happy medium" in order to assist traffic flow, as a number of cars had been attempting to overtake him inappropriately at 40mph.
Mr Goodier told the court that the defendant had a previous conviction for a similar offence in 2003.
Representing himself, Salmon told magistrates that he was "very sorry" about the whole incident, which happened on September 20.
Magistrates fined him £300, endorsed his licence with five penalty points and ordered him to pay £35 costs.
An inquest into Mr Nutkins' death heard he had been in third gear when pulling out on to the A1198.
Coroner David Morris recorded a verdict of accidental death.
