A JURY today made the rare recommendation of urging action to be taken at a Hampshire road junction following the conviction of a woman for causing the death of an elderly cyclist.
William Logan, 70, who lived in Eastleigh, died when his bike was in collision with a car on the A334 Shedfield - Botley road last April.
The force of the impact sent him and his bike over a blue Audi, driven by Sophie Whitmarsh, and he landed in the road.
Southampon Crown Court heard Whitmarsh had pulled out of Reading Room Lane to enter Outlands Lane on the opposite side of the road. She was three quarters of the way across the junction when the accident occured.
After retiring for three hours and 20 minutes, jurors this afternoon found Whitmarsh, of Wylye Close, West End, guilty of causing death by careless driving.
But in reaching their verdict, they penned a note to Judge Peter Ralls QC urging for action to be taken.
Their rider read: "We as a jury consider the road A334 at the junction of Reading Room Lane and Outlands Lane to be exceptinally dangerous.
"This is shown by the number of accidents at this junction in the past five years. People's lives are being put at risk on a daily basis.
"There is a need for the relevant authorities to ignore this fact no longer."
Adjourning sentence until May 12 for reports, the judge said he utterly endorsed it.
He said he recognised there were a lot of mitigating factors and he was satisfied the case did not warrant a prison sentence but she would be disqualified and have to pay costs, whole or in part.
Judge Ralls described the accident as "a momentary lapse" on Whitmarsh's part, the consequences of which were appalling, and she would have to live with it.
"I would not be surprised if it kept her awake at night."
At the end of the hearing, he commended Sgt Darren Ord, the senior investigating officer, for his work in he case.
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