A DRIVER who was killed in a head-on collision with a lorry being driven by a Kendal woman had been allowing his car to drift into the opposite carriageway in the minutes before the crash, an inquest in Skipton was told.
Jonathan Lea Emson, 40, of Derby, had traces of morphine, methadone and heroin in his system, but there was no evidence the drugs had contributed to the crash at Harden Bridge on the A65, near Austwick, said coroner Rob Turnbull.
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Mr Emson died on August 1 when his blue Renault Clio crossed into the path of a lorry coming in the opposite direction, driven by Carolyn Speak, 31, of Kendal.
She said the car had crossed the white line but did not swerve as it approached and ran straight into her vehicle.
In statements to the hearing, a driver travelling behind Mr Emson's car said he had seen it drifting across the white line in the minutes before the crash.
Recording a verdict that Mr Emson had died as a result of a road traffic accident, Mr Turnbull told lorry driver Ms Speak: "There was nothing you could have done to prevent this crash."
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