A CORONER will ask Newport City Council to consider extending 'no overtaking' lines on part of a main road referred to during an inquest into the death of a motorcyclist as the 'mad mile'.

Gareth Williams, from Bedwas, died after he was involved in a collision with a car on a stretch of the A468 between Machen and Rhiwderin at around 7.50am on April 19 last year.

The 60-year-old had been overtaking a line of vehicles near the beginning of the one kilometre-long straight, heading out of Machen, when his powerful Yamaha bike collided with a BMW estate car turning right out of the Upper Ochrwyth road.

Mr Williams died of his injuries at the scene. Car driver Christopher Bolton sustained minor injuries.

Coroners are able - under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 - to issue a regulation 28 report if they believe action should be taken to try to prevent further deaths, and after an inquest into Mr Williams's death, Senior Coroner for Gwent Caroline Saunders said she would do so in this instance.

"I am concerned that there should be some consideration by the council to increase the 'no overtaking' lines on this stretch of road," she said.

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In a statement read at the inquest hearing, Mr Bolton said he had been on the way to pick up a client before going to play golf.

At the Upper Ochrwyth junction with the A468 he said he had a good view in both directions and enough time to turn right across oncoming traffic - a van and several cars.

Halfway across however, he saw a motorbike, which was overtaking the van, appear on the other side of the road. It was "hurtling" towards him, he said, and "I had nowhere to go".

"I raised my hands towards my head and shouted "no, no, no". I thought I was going to die," said Mr Bolton. The windscreen and driver's side window then shattered as the bike hit the car.

Martin Oliver and Mark Jones, driver and passenger respectively in the van heading the line of oncoming traffic, each said Mr Bolton had plenty of time to complete his manoeuvre.

They described hearing the motorbike approaching from behind at speed, Mr Oliver telling Ms Saunders it sounded like it was "going through the gears". Both men saw the impact.

Moments before the crash, the van and vehicles behind it had stopped or slowed behind another van which turned right towards Draethen, and had been accelerating along the A468 when the bike overtook them.

Another driver, Steven John, who turned left from the Upper Ochrwyth road seconds before Mr Bolton turned the other way, saw the crash in his rear view mirror. In his statement he called this stretch of road the 'mad mile'.

He said he had seen the BMW crossing the road to turn right, saw the motorbike appear from the other direction, and thought "no, no, no", before the impact.

Sergeant Robert Witherall, a forensic collision investigator with Gwent Police, said the "Machen Straight" is renowned for incidents. Since 2014, he said he had dealt with one fatal collision on that stretch of the A468, and is aware of two others.

He concluded that it would have been "unlikely" Mr Bolton would have seen Mr Williams before he began his manoeuvre out of Upper Ochrwyth road, and was likely that each was obscured from the other's view.

Ms Saunders concluded Mr Williams's death was as a result of a road traffic collision, and said "both drivers... could have exercised greater caution".