A road worker was killed and another left seriously hurt after a naked driver overtook a line of cars and passed through a red light, a court was told.
Blaine Rock suffered multiple injuries after being hit during the collision with a car in Ansley Road, Nuneaton, in September 2018.
The 22-year-old was working alongside his father, Harry, and their workmate, Paul Currie, on a road surfacing crew moments before the collision.
Mr Currie was left in hospital for three months, during which he was in a coma for the first few weeks.
Sorin Laszlo , 42, Grove Road, Nuneaton, was charged with causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He pleaded not guilty at an earlier hearing.
Matthew Barnes, prosecuting, told Warwick Crown Court that the defendant’s Peugeot 807 had overtaken waiting cars and went through a red light.
He said: “On Friday, September 14, 2018, at just after 10.30am a horrific road traffic collision occurred when a car driven by this defendant struck two wholly innocent and unsuspecting road workers, killing one and seriously injuring another.”
The court heard there were nine or 10 cars waiting at a red light on the 40mph road heading away from the direction of Nuneaton, when Laszlo drove straight past them in the middle of the road at between 30 to 33mph.
Mr Barnes added: “The defendant simply appears to have ignored not only the red light but the small queue of traffic that was waiting for the light to change, and simply overtook the stationary vehicles, not breaking or reducing its speed.”
"The road works were clearly marked, and the workers were wearing high visibility clothing. If it was steered back to its nearside it could have gone through the single-file piece of road adjacent to the road works, but sadly it wasn’t. It simply ploughed ahead, hitting two of the small team of road workers, Blaine Rock and Paul Currie.
"They were both standing drilling the road surface, and they may well have had their backs to the oncoming Peugeot. They were certainly wearing ear protectors because of the noise of the drilling, and it seems likely they were unaware of the danger.
“The Peugeot, having struck the two men, carried them both on its bonnet. Neither of them fell off. They were carried through the road works onto the other side of the road.
“He drove on for about 400 metres, and it was only when he crashed that the two men came off the Peugeot. He failed to negotiate a sharp right-hand bend and lost control and collided at speed with a lamppost.”
The car ended up in a hedge, the court was then told.
A motorist's dashcam filmed Laszlo as he ran naked from the scene after the crash and was chased by onlookers who took him to the ground and held him until the police arrived.
He was arrested and taken to the Tamarind Centre mental health unit in Birmingham, where he has remained, said Mr Barnes.
Judge Anthony Potter told the jury that they “are not influenced by anything or anyone” so that they are simply trying the case on the evidence and therefore they must not discuss the case with anybody else.
Judge Potter says: “Please judge the case on the evidence alone and nothing else.”
The trial continues.
