A motorcyclist died after ploughing into a traffic island having overtaken a car on a major road, an inquest heard. Joseph Booth, 35, was riding a black Yamaha XJ6 along the A57 Mottram Moor in Mottram, Tameside, on Sunday, May 8 when the horror crash happened.
After hitting a central islands, he was thrown from the bike. Emergency services raced to the scene shortly after 10.15pm, but Mr Booth could sadly not be saved.
An inquest into his death held this week heard he did not have a licence to ride the 125cc bike. A coroner said 'on the balance of probabilities', he was over the drink-drive limit.
A police investigator said one of the bollards on the island was covered with 'dirt and grime', which may have affected how visible it was.
The stretch of Mottram Moor is technically a single-carriageway road, but has two lanes in each direction, the inquest was told.
Mr Booth was travelling uphill in a westerly direction towards Hyde. The hearing was told an witness travelling in the same direction became aware of Mr Booth's bike while at a set of traffic lights.
He said he later saw him ride onto the opposite carriageway while overtaking - and said he believed he was travelling 'well in excess of 30mph'. The witness said he then saw Mr Booth hit a traffic island after moving back over.
PC Paul Terry, a forensic collision reconstruction officer for Greater Manchester Police (GMP), said "The road markings suggest Mr Booth has driven on the opposite carriageway then returned to the west lane and collided with a traffic island positioned centrally, following which he has dismounted.
"The evidence doesn't tell me why he did that, just that that's physically what happened."
He said analysis of CCTV footage suggested he may have been travelling 'in excess of 38mph at the point the collision occurred' on the stretch of road where the speed limit is 30mph.
"I think the speed he was likely to have been travelling at the time is a factor as the faster you are travelling the less time you get to deal with the road environment," PC Terry added.
The bike was examined by a specialist police engineer, who said no defects which could have contributed to the crash were found. PC Terry also examined the traffic island itself and raised a potential concern about the bollards, saying they were 'covered in a layer of dirt and grime'.
"I think it's possible the layer of dirt and grime is likely to have affected the reflective properties of the bollards," he said. "It won't have been as effective as a clean bollard."
Senior investigating officer Paul Collingwood said police asked National Highways to report on the 'concerns about signage'. Cliff Orrell from National Highways said it wasn't what clear to what extent the state of the bollards was a result of the crash itself.
He said street furniture in the area was subject to weekly inspections of different degrees and that despite a gap of inspections in April, the area was checked on May 5, just three days before the fatal crash.
A pathologist concluded Mr Booth died as a result of multiple injuries. Toxicology tests found Mr Booth had a blood alcohol level of 141mg/dL, with the drink-drive limit being 80mg/dL.
Dr Martin said the reading suggested 'there may have been some minor intoxication' at the time of the collision. The coroner said Mr Booth's family had 'expressed some surprise about these findings'.
Dr Martin said the body does produce alcohol after death but that that 'wouldn't explain all the ethanol' that was found.
Area coroner Chris Morris told South Manchester Coroners' Court in Stockport: "The evidence suggests on Sunday, May 8 this year, just after 10.15pm, Mr Booth was driving his motorcycle along Mottram Moor A57 road in the direction of Hyde.
"It appears, on the balance of probabilities, that he had consumed alcohol at that point in time and was above the drink-drive limit. The evidence suggests he was riding a Yamaha motorcycle. Why he was riding that has not been confirmed. It was not a vehicle he was licenced to use or held registration for.
"He attempted an overtaking manoeuvre on the road on that occasion, on returning back to his own lane he has come into contact with a pedestrian island which has very sadly caused him to dismount from his motorcycle and suffer fatal injuries."
Recording a conclusion that Mr Booth as a result of a road traffic collision he said he 'died as a consequence of multiple injuries sustained when he dismounted from his motorcycle after striking a central traffic island having undertaken an overtaking manouvre'.
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