High speed contributed to the crash that killed mechanic Nikko Robinson-Woodley, a police officer told the Supreme Court yesterday.

Bryan Daniel is on trial for causing Mr Robinson-Woodley’s death by dangerous driving.

The victim was reportedly the passenger in a car driven by Mr Daniel that left Harrington Sound Road in the early hours of January 4 last year and collided with a tree near the junction with Paynters Road.

Mr Robinson-Woodley died as a result of his injuries but Mr Daniel survived, although he suffered serious injuries.

Inspector Phil Lewis testified yesterday that based on the evidence, he believed a combination of factors led to the crash, including Mr Daniel driving at high speed.

He told the court that while marks found on the road were not long enough to approximate the speed at which the vehicle was travelling, investigators were able to determine the maximum speed a vehicle could negotiate the turn without losing control as 96 kilometres per hour.

“If he had followed the curve of the road and travelled at the proper speed then he wouldn’t have come off the road and hit the tree,” he said.

Defence lawyer Saul Froomkin challenged the calculations, arguing that the formula used had been disputed by researchers who found that vehicles do not always follow the curve of the road.

Mr Lewis, however, maintained that the process he used was up to date. Mr Froomkin suggested a damaged rear tyre could have blown out before the crash took place, but the inspector said it was unlikely.

“As an expert, the evidence is overwhelming that the vehicle sustained a blown-out rear tyre as a result of the vehicle losing control,” he said.

“Based on the movements of this vehicle, the damage to it, it’s my opinion the damage to this tyre as pointed out in the photographs, that this damage occurred post-collision, possibly as a result of the back of the vehicle skidding broadside.”

He told the court he had been involved in several cases in which a driver in a crash had blamed a blown-out tyre for a collision, but in all but one case it was proved that the wheels were damaged as a result of the crash.

Under continued cross-examination, he accepted it was a possibility.

Mr Froomkin repeatedly challenged Mr Lewis’s hypothesis as to what caused the accident, suggesting that if the vehicle was travelling at high speed, centrifugal force would throw the vehicle to the north of the road rather than the south, where the crash occurred.

Mr Lewis said normally that would be the case, but something unusual may have happened before the vehicle crashed. Asked what, he suggested a bad steering input, poor road surface or bald tyres, but insisted that excessive speed would have contributed.

The trial continues.

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