A14: Trial of lorry driver accused of killing motorcyclist
Sergejs Baikovs, of Tattersall Road, Boston, denies causing the death of Maurice Brame, of Tostock, near Bury St Edmunds, by dangerous driving following a collision between his lorry and Mr Brame’s motorcycle on the A14 between Sproughton and the Copdock interchange in 2022.
Speaking at the opening of the 33-year-old’s lorry driver’s trial at Ipswich Crown Court yesterday, Peter Clark, prosecuting, said eyewitnesses had claimed: “The lorry driver wasn’t taking any action to avoid the collision.”
Police were called to the scene of the crash shortly after 6am on Wednesday, September 21, last year.
Crews from the East of England Ambulance Service and Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service were also in attendance, but Mr Brame, 61, died at the scene.
Mr Clark claimed that Baikovs failed to notice the motorcyclist and was not concentrating properly while driving.
While stressing that Baikovs had not used his mobile phone while driving, Mr Clark also alleged he had been “inaccurate” while reporting the accident to police.
Mr Clark said the commercial lorry driver had said he had hit a “black thing in the road”, something which he described as “a dark object or an animal that could be 30-35cm high”.
Mr Clark also alleged that the first identified braking was made by an emergency braking system and not the driver himself.
Baikovs claimed he did not see the motorcyclist, even though a witness saw the lorry following the vehicle for about two miles.
Mr Clark claimed Baikovs, who is on bail, did not taking any action and was not actively braking or steering the lorry to avoid the collision.
In a tribute following his death, Mr Brame’s family said he had been heading to work at GMA Haulage, where he had worked for 27 years, on the day of the collision. [1]
The trial continues.