SMIDSY driver cleared over rider’s death

A motorist who pulled out on a motorcyclist has been cleared of causing the rider’s death by careless driving. 

Driver Ian MacIntyre, 58, was found not guilty after a jury heard he simply didn’t see Ducati rider David Blackburn, 53, who was fatally injured.

MacIntyre pulled across the A155 in Hagnaby, Lincolnshire, in his Jaguar XF sports car in April last year, into the path of Blackburn, from nearby West Keal.

Lincolnshire Crown Court heard MacIntyre described the sun as low and blinding when he looked west along the A155 in Blackburn’s direction.  

McIntyre pleaded not guilty and the jury took just 10 minutes to clear the driver, from Foxton, Cambridgeshire.

The British Motorcyclists Federation’s Jeff Stone said: “Common sense tells you that to cross a road when you can’t see what’s coming has to be careless driving at the very least.

“You can’t help thinking that there is an in-built public bias against motorcyclists.”