A COLLISION between a car and a tipper lorry which left an elderly York woman driver dead proved that "speed kills", a court heard today.

Prosecutor Michael Sandiford told Pickering magistrates that a police examiner who investigated the accident near Castle Howard on March 15 believed the lorry would have been able to stop if it had been keeping to the speed limit.

But he added that the lorry driver, Christopher Jeminson, faced no charge of dangerous or careless driving because the car, driven by 73-year-old Winifred Boatfield, had pulled out at a junction where he had priority.

Jeminson, aged 31, of Piercy End, Kirkbymoorside, admitted driving his tipper lorry at 53 mph on the Barton Hill to Slingsby road, where he should have been doing 40 mph.

He was fined £200 with £50 costs and his licence was endorsed with three penalty points.

Mr Sandiford said: "The police examiner who has investigated this accident is of the opinion that had Mr Jeminson been keeping to the 40mph speed limit, and this lady had then pulled out as she did, he would almost certainly have been able to stop in time to avoid this collision, so that in this case, the slogan that one hears so much that speed kills is in fact correct."

But he added that apart from the excessive speed there was no criticism of Jeminson's driving.

For Jeminson, Lisa Turner said he drove regularly on this road for his employment. The accident had caused him a great deal of distress. He had a clean licence and had never been before a court previously.

Mrs Boatfield, of Elmlands Grove, York, was killed in the accident, and her husband, William Norman Boatfield, who was travelling with her, suffered serious injuries.