A driver has gone on trial accused of killing a motorcyclist when the bungee cord that was securing the bonnet on his car failed causing the bonnet to suddenly fly open and block his view. Terance Jenkins responded to his bonnet opening by performing an emergency stop in the road.
The biker who was following him, James Huxtable, was unable to stop in time and crashed into the back of his Ford Focus. Aston Martin factory worker Mr Huxtable suffered fatal injuries in the collision and despite passers-by and emergency workers performing CPR at the scene he could not be saved. Jenkins denies a charge of causing death by dangerous driving and is on trial at Swansea Crown Court in a trial expected to last five days.
Opening the case for the prosecution James Hartson told the jury that when they think of dangerous driving they may think of issues such as grossly excessive speed or racing on a public road or a driver being distracted by use of a mobile while at the wheel but the case before it was an unusual one in that the principal basis of the prosecution was not the defendant's driving but the state of his vehicle. The barrister said the fatal collision happened at around 4.10pm on September 7, 2021, on the A4107 Afan Valley road between Cymmer and Duffryn Rhondda as both the defendant and Mr Huxtable were heading in a northerly direction. He said at the time of the collision there was no bonnet locking mechanism, secondary locking mechanism, or locking "slam plate" on Jenkins' Ford Focus and that the bonnet was secured by a bungee cord. He said additionally the car was fitted with a non-standard radiator, there were no indicators or headlights, it had a major oil leak in the engine, and the exhaust pipe was detached from its bracket.
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The court heard that as Jenkins drove the car along the road the bungee holding the bonnet shut failed causing the bonnet fly up and smash into the windscreen of the car. Jenkins responded by "slamming" on his brakes and moments later 41-year-old Mr Huxtable collided with the back of the vehicle.
Mr Hartson told the jury that the condition of the Ford would be an immediate MoT failure and the vehicle was "inherently dangerous". He said it was the prosecution case that driving the Focus in the state it was dangerous and it would have been obvious it was dangerous and that the defendant's driving fell far below the standard expected of a careful and competent driver. He added that the fatal collision was "entirely foreseeable, entirely avoidable, and entirely unnecessary".
The barrister told the court that 45-year-old Jenkins accepts he removed the locking mechanism from the bonnet but it is his defence that he believes the use of the bungee cord was safe and that he was only driving for a short distance and that "as unpleasant as it sounds" the manner in which Mr Huxtable was riding his bike caused the crash.
During the first day of evidence the jury heard from two motorists who had been on the same stretch of road at the time of the collision. Clifford Stokes told the jury he was driving down the valley to Cwmavon when he saw the bonnet of an approaching car "flip" open and the car swerve over the road as it braked. He said he did not see the motorbike before the crash but heard a "crunch" and then saw the bike and the rider on the road. Another witness, David Evans, told the court he was travelling up the valley towards Cymmer when he was overtaken by a blue Yamaha motorbike. He said the bike then overtook the car ahead of him before disappearing around a bend and shortly afterwards he heard a screech and a collision. Mr Evans said he did not think there was anything dangerous about the manner of the overtaking manoeuvre. He said he did not see the collision itself as it was out of sight around the bend but when he arrived on the scene he performed CPR on the injured casualty until firefighters arrived and took over.
The court also heard from South Wales Police crash investigator Phillip Dunning who examined the Focus and the motorbike after the collision. He said the Ford was fitted with a non-standard radiator which protruded above the engine bay and prevented the bonnet from closing and locking and that there were no locking mechanisms or a slam plate on the vehicle. He also said the exhaust pipe was detached, there were no front indicators or headlights, the horn did not work, and there was a significant oil leak in the engine. Asked how he would summarise the condition of 2005 Focus he replied: "It was in a poor state of repair." The investigator said he found no mechanical defects on Mr Huxtable's Yamaha bike.
Terance Jenkins, of Afan Road, Duffryn Rhondda, Afan Valley, denies causing death by dangerous driving and the trial continues.
