A JURY has left the court room to consider its verdict in a dangerous driving trial over a collision which claimed the life of motorcyclist Norm Suckling in 2019.
The Bendigo County Court is in its second week of hearings in relation to the October 29 collision between Mr Suckling's Harley Davidson motorbike and a truck driven by beekeeper Rapple Borris Tadeje.
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The jurors visited the site of the crash on the Calder Alternative Highway and Bullock Road at Marong last Friday, to see the intersection of the two roads.
Mr Tadeje of Moorooduc, now 32, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of dangerous driving causing death.
In the trial's closing arguments, prosecutor David Cordy said he accepted that the intersection was "a bad and dangerous piece of road" which was both poorly designed and sign posted.
However, he said it was still the responsibility of the driver to "drive to the conditions of the road" and given the dangers, he should not have chosen to make his turn there.
Mr Cordy said Mr Tadeje failed to give way to the motorcycle as he attempted a right hand turn from the Calder Alternative Highway into Bullock Road.
Defence barrister Ian Polak said his client had followed the road rules and kept a proper lookout and was not at fault.
He said there were sometimes "tragic accidents" on the roads, for which nobody was criminally responsible, and this was on the those cases.
Mr Polak said the trial had shown that it was impossible to know if the motorcycle had been speeding at the time of the crash and the jury would not be able to determine, beyond reasonable doubt, if the truck driver had been driving dangerously and therefore responsible for the collision.
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