Colin Lee, 64, of York Place, crashed into the back of Baljinder Kaur Gill’s car on the A40 near Denham in June last year, killing her almost instantly.
Her car had been left stranded in the fast lane of the dual carriageway after a pile-up allegedly engineered by a criminal gang who are also in the dock.
It is claimed they staged the crash by driving recklessly in order to make bogus insurance claims for personal injury and damage to their vehicle.
Miss Gill, 34, was retrieving something from inside her damaged Ford Fiesta car when it was struck by Mr Lee’s white Renault van.
The jury were told that her death was caused by Mr Lee’s dangerous driving. They heard that Miss Gill’s car was left immobile after the crash and as a result she had placed her hazard warning lights on and her door was open.
As little as 55 seconds later Mr Lee, who was not part of the ‘crash for cash’ racket, slammed into her car.
Noel Lucas QC, prosecuting, said that just nine tenths of a second prior to the impact the van was travelling at 69.6 mph and hit Miss Gill’s car at 52.87mph.
He told the court that this gave a deceleration figure of 8.7 metres per second.
As a result the van, which had 312 metres of clear visibility prior to the stationary vehicle, should have stopped within just over 55 metres from 69.6mph.
However, it took 5.6 times the distance to stop, the jury heard.
Mr Lee denies causing Miss Gill’s death by dangerous driving and an alternative charge of causing death by careless driving. The trial at Reading Crown Court continues.
