A PENSIONER who was killed after she was hit by a lorry on a busy road failed to look left and right, an inquest heard.

Nona Dianne Clark had her head “bowed down” as she walked across the five-lane section of the A1079, at Wilberfoss, in front of oncoming traffic last December.

The 71-year-old, who was on her way to catch a bus to do some Christmas shopping, was hit by a white low-loader lorry as she crossed the section.

She suffered massive head injuries and died at the scene.

An inquest in Hull heard how the lorry driver whose vehicle struck the widower saw Mrs Clark hesitate in the middle of the junction, then “speed up”.

Colin Brain, 56, described Mrs Clark, of Sherburn Cottages, Newton upon Derwent, had her head bowed down as she crossed the road.

He said: “When I sounded the horn she seemed to falter a split second, then head down, feet going she was in front of me.

“It was if she heard the horn but did not want to hear it. Anyone sounding a horn – an animal would look left or right to see where it would come from – she did not look left or right.”

Mrs Clark was struck by the lorry’s nearside mirror and she was flung into the air.

Another witness, Robert Davies, who was travelling behind the lorry, described how the “hairs stood up on my neck” when he saw her on the side of the road.

“I felt something was going to happen,” he said.

Mrs Clark’s daughter, Helen Pearson, described her mother as a “fiercely independent” woman who walked everywhere.

She regularly walked the three-quarters of a mile from her home to cross the A1079, the inquest heard.

Collision investigation officer Alfred Place, of Humberside Police, said Mrs Clark either failed to see or misjudged the speed of oncoming traffic. He said Mr Brain was driving at or around the speed limit.

Coroner Geoffrey Saul recorded a verdict of accidental death.