‘Momentary error’ thought to be behind fatal motorcycle collision

A ‘momentary rider error’ was probably behind a crash in which an experienced motorcyclist died, an inquest heard.

Michael Hamilton, died on March 13, in a crash on the A1123, between Earith and Haddenham, when he his black Kawasaki motorcycle was hit by a silver Mitsubishi Shogun.

An inquest held at Lawrence Court, in Huntingdon, heard that the driver of the Mitsubishi, Gary Brown, recalled seeing a group of motorcyclists pass by him followed by a few solo riders, which included Mr Hamilton.

“I just turned the corner and there was a bang. I knew I had hit the motorcyclist or the motorcycle,” Mr Brown said.

The court heard that Mr Brown was in the car with his partner Pauline Huebler when the collision happened.

In a statement she said: “We saw the motorbike coming directly towards us on the wrong side of the road, we thought ‘what is he doing?’”

Following the incident, collision investigator PC Stephen Andrews attended the scene; at the inquest he explained that “it is unknown why Mr Hamilton steered such a course”.

He said: “Mr Brown is likely to have seen Mr Hamilton at the very last second – he has tried to react to the oncoming Kawasaki but had insufficient time to avoid a collision. This has been put down to momentary rider error.”

Explanations were put forward by friends of Mr Hamilton, from Benfleet, Essex, as to why the incident occurred including a misjudgement of the road layout and the speed of the main group.

Senior coroner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, David Heming concluded that Mr Hamilton died as a result of a road traffic collision in which he sustained multiple injuries.