A MOTOCYCLIST was rushing to a hair appointment when he ploughed into a family as they crossed a busy road, killing a 58-year old grandmother and seriously injuring her husband and two grandchildren, it has been alleged.

A MOTOCYCLIST was rushing to a hair appointment when he ploughed into a family as they crossed a busy road, killing a 58-year old grandmother and seriously injuring her husband and two grandchildren, it has been alleged.

Christine Seymour was carrying her two-year-old grandson Ethan across London Road in Ipswich, while her husband Brian was holding six-year-old Kieran's hand and pulling his bike when Christopher Bainbridge careered into them on his 1000cc Honda motorbike, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Mrs Seymour of London Road, Ipswich, suffered serious injuries and died five weeks later in hospital. Her husband, 66, and grandsons were also seriously injured, but had recovered, although Mr Seymour was not well enough to attend court to give evidence said Richard Christie, prosecuting.

The court heard that shortly before the accident on August 18 last year, Bainbridge, 35, who was on his way to a hair appointment in central Colchester, was seen driving at estimated speeds of 60 to 80mph in a 40mph limit.

A police expert had calculated that he was travelling at between 65 and 91mph when he applied his brakes.

“If the defendant had been travelling within the 40mph limit, he would have been able to stop 34 meters before the Seymour family,” said Mr Christie.

He said one witness had described seeing Bainbridge accelerate away from traffic lights in London Road so quickly that she thought he was going to do a “wheelie”, while another said he was lined up at traffic lights as if he were on a grid at the start of a race.

“Within a few seconds of seeing him burn-off away from the traffic lights, he had careered into the Seymour family as they crossed to the other side of the road,” said Mr Christie.

“We say that he was driving at such an excessive speed that he had no other option but to crash into them.”

The court heard that after leaving Chantry Park at about 4.30pm, Mr and Mrs Seymour had walked along London Road in an out-of-town direction and had crossed to the central reservation before crossing the remaining part of the road.

”They deliberately walked up the road to get to a straight point of the road before crossing” said Mr Christie.

He said there was an underpass on that stretch of road but at the time it was closed for maintenance work.

Bainbridge, of Lincoln Close, Ipswich, has denied causing Mrs Seymour's death by dangerous driving.

The court heard that on the afternoon in question Bainbridge was driving from his home on his red Honda Fireblade 1000cc motorbike to central Colchester for a 5pm hair appointment.

Mr Christie said the estimated journey time was 35 minutes and he alleged that Bainbridge had been 'in a hurry' as he drove along London Road.

Minutes before the accident, he was seen accelerating away from traffic lights at great speed.

“Such was the speed that witnesses remarked on it to themselves,” said Mr Christie. One had called Bainbridge an 'idiot', while another had commented 'there's an accident waiting to happen'.

He was also allegedly seen weaving in and out of cars to get to the front of the queue at traffic lights said Mr Christie.

At one stage prior to the accident, Bainbridge had allegedly overtaken a driver on the right hand side even though the driver was in the right hand lane, while another driver had allegedly been forced to drive onto the grass verge as Bainbridge tried to get past her van.

Mr Christie said that Bainbridge had denied driving dangerously and contrary to 14 prosecution witnesses, said he was accelerating in a normal manner.

However, when he was asked what speed he was travelling at, on three occasions he had refused to comment.

“Prosecution say he was driving at a vastly excessive speed on the road that day and would have known it, and that is what caused the death of Christine Seymour” said Mr Christie.

The trial continues today.