The woman accused of causing a quadruple fatal at Navarre last year called the collision "the most devastating thing", believing she was driving at only 50km/h at the time.
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A police video interview with Lorraine Nicholson from May 2018 was played to a County Court jury on Monday.
The Stawell woman in her 60s is accused of culpable driving causing death, after her Jeep t-boned a Kia carrying Western District women Elaine Middleton, Claudia Jackson, Tess Ely, and Dianne Barr, in Navarre on May 5 last year.
The four women died at the scene of the crash at the intersection of the Stawell-Avoca Road and the Ararat-St Arnaud Road.
In the recorded police interview, Nicholson said on the day of the crash, she and her Dunolly-based brother had traveled to Bendigo to see their mother in hospital.
READ MORE
- Day 1: Defence says woman 'missed the brake' to cause Navarre quadruple fatal
- Day 2: Major Collision Investigation Unit police officer says road conditions were dry and it was daylight
- Day 3: Witnesses to fatal crash heard 'the loudest bang'
- Day 4: First police on the scene said Navarre fatal cars both had 'major damage'
She said she had "traveled (the road home) hundreds of times", felt alert on the drive and was well aware there was a stop sign at the crossroad.
Nicholson told investigators after disengaging her cruise control, which was set to 90km/h, she could see some grime on her windscreen which she used her wiper fluid to clean. When it cleared, she realised she was a "bit closer" to the stop sign, and tried to brake.
"The car I drive, when you pull out to pass or accelerate firmly, there's a bit of a lag where it doesn't do anything ... I put my foot on the brake, nothing happened, then the car sort of took off," she said.
"I saw the stop sign flash by me, and I thought, 'What's happening? What's happening?' There was a bang, not a really loud bang, the airbags all went off."
Nicholson said the Jeep had previously had issues with a lag between the time she hit the pedal and when the accelerator kicked in. She also told investigators she believed the car had slowed down to 50km/h by the time the collision occurred.
When police told the woman data from her car's airbags showed she was travelling at 89km/h at the point of impact, and there was not braking or accelerating from 3.9 seconds before the collision, she said she was surprised and knew she "felt pressure under my foot, I know I was pushing on something.
Nicholson silently sobbed in the dock while watching her video interview onscreen as it played to the court.
The Stawell woman told police she didn't know what she'd hit until she saw another car at the intersection.
"It was the most devastating thing, I didn't see anything coming," Nicholson said. "Just the thought that ladies had died. Women that are like me. That have a husbands and are probably grandmothers like me..."
Detective Leading Senior Constable Michael Hardiman, a collision reconstructionist, told the court based on data from GeoSciences Australia, when the crash occurred the "sun was below the horizon but still light".
He gave evidence that stop signs along the road which Nicholson had traveled were clearly visible, and from the road she "would have an unobstructed view of all traffic driving southerly" on the crossroad.
Leading Senior Constable Michael Hardiman told the court there was no pre-impact emergency breaking from either vehicle, with an absence of "tire marks on the road surface in the lead up to the area of impact". According to data from the Jeep, the Kia was at a speed of 64 km/h in a 70 km/h zone when it was hit.
The crash reconstruction expert said Nicholson's foot came off the accelerator 4.2 seconds before the crash. By 3.9 seconds, the acceleration had stopped, and Nicholson's Jeep was was 99 metres from the collision point. The court heard in the five seconds before the incident, the woman's Jeep had slowed from 94km/h to 89 km/h.
He told the court a car could comfortably brake 90 metres out from a stop line and slow down in time to be stationary at the crossroad.
Senior Constable Nick Brickley, a expert mechanical investigator, said in a report submitted as evidence to the court that his "inspections did not reveal any mechanical fault with the (Kia or Jeep) which would have caused or contributed to the collision".
The trial continues in front of Judge Michael Bourke on Tuesday.