A 63-YEAR-OLD motorist has gone on trial accused of causing the death of an Otley cyclist by careless driving.

Father-of-three Craig Armitage died in February last year following a head-on collision with a Hyundai estate car on the B6160 near Bolton Abbey.

Mr Armitage, an experienced rider, had been taking part in an organised event on a Sunday morning when he suffered fatal injuries in the crash.

Hyundai driver Nicholas Goddard, of Pen-y-Ghent Way, Barnoldswick, has denied causing the 44-year-old's death by careless driving, but the prosecution has alleged that at the time of the collision his car was still "straddling" the centre of the road after overtaking another cyclist.

The crash happened on an uphill section of road near to a sharp right bend and prosecutor Simon Waley told a jury at Bradford Crown Court that Goddard had left his overtaking manoeuvre too late.

He alleged Goddard was too close to the bend and so didn't have enough time to fully return to his own side of the road before being confronted by Mr Armitage, who was approaching from the opposite direction.

"Mr Armitage may have been close to the centre of the road, but he would have been in a position to cycle safely past this defendant had this defendant been fully within his own lane," Mr Waley told the court today.

During a police interview, Goddard said he pulled fully back over to his side of the road and claimed Mr Armitage had been on the wrong side.

Mr Waley told the jury an accident investigator, instructed by the prosecution, had examined marks on the road and indicated that the bicycle collided with the centre of Goddard's car. He said the prosecution expert would say the marks clearly placed Mr Armitage and his bicycle on the correct side of the road and were consistent with Goddard's vehicle "straddling" the white centre line.

"As he fell to the floor having already struck the centre of the Hyundai Mr Armitage was on the correct side of the road for him," alleged Mr Waley.

Mr Waley told the jury it would also hear from another accident investigator for the defence who would say that the impact occurred at a time when the defendant's car was back in its correct lane.

He said the jury would have to decide what they made of the evidence of the two experts as well as the other witnesses in the case.

Mr Waley said the prosecution had to make the jury sure that the defendant's driving fell below the standard of a "careful and competent" driver.

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"The prosecution have to prove matters to a high standard," said Mr Waley.

"You have to be sure of the defendant's guilt before you can convict him on the count that he faces."

The jury heard evidence from Leeds cyclist John Buddle who had been overtaken by Goddard's car shortly before the fatal collision.

He said he had not expected the car to overtake when it did because they were so close to the right hand bend.

During his evidence Mr Buddle said the car was in the centre of the road when he heard a "breaking, crashing sound".

He told the court that the car had not moved back in front of him and 50 per cent of the vehicle was in the other carriageway.