Witnesses said Valerie Hoare, 79, did not appear to check for oncoming traffic before driving straight out at a Chailey crossroads into the path of a Renault van.

Mrs Hoare, of Downsland Court, died at the scene after her red Suzuki Vitara collided with the van at the crossroads of Beggars Wood Road and North Common Road.

Mrs Hoare, who had lived in Ditchling for 55 years, was driving friend Briget Smith, 75, to Newick to join a coach trip to Derbyshire early on May 6 when the tragedy happened.

A well-known figure in the local community, Mrs Hoare, a physiotherapist, had campaigned to save the village green from development and was an active supporter of the Royal British Legion and the NSPCC.

She had been widowed a year earlier when her husband Michael was killed in an accident in Hassocks and was still working part-time.

At the inquest in Eastbourne on Tuesday, witness Robin Le Cras, from Maresfield, said he was on his way to Hassocks in a Nissan van and had turned off the A272 to go down to the Wivelsfield Road.

He said: 'I slowed down because to my left I saw an oncoming vehicle approaching which I stopped for and waited looking across the road, obviously checking for traffic. I saw a little red Suzuki jeep coming up.

'I could see the white van and I could see the red jeep and it didn't stop.'

He told the coroner: 'She (Mrs Hoare) didn't at any time appear to look right.'

The inquest heard there were give way signs on posts at the junction.
Crash investigation lead officer PC Stuart Watson said he found no defects in either vehicle, weather conditions were good and tyre scuff marks from the Suzuki suggested it had been driven straight across the road.

The angle of the sun at that time of the morning would not have affected Mrs Hoare's view, he said, and the two vehicles were travelling well below the speed limit.

The driver of the Renault van, Douglas Thorpe, 51, from South Chailey, told the inquest he was travelling west along Beggars Wood Road when he spotted the Suzuki on North Common Lane which then disappeared out of view behind bushes.

He said he was travelling between 30 and 40mph when the Suzuki Vitara re-appeared and Mrs Hoare appeared to be looking straight ahead as she drove out.

Mr Thorpe, who lost consciousness on impact, said he had no time to brake but tried to swerve to the left to take avoiding action.

He said: "There was nothing I could have done to prevent it happening."
Coroner Alan Craze said: 'I have no difficulty at all in accepting that the accident took place in the way in which it has been described this afternoon."

"I conclude that the driver failed to give way and as a result of this sadly the driver lost her life.'

Recording that Mrs Hoare died as a result of a road traffic accident, Mr Craze said there were few drivers who had at some point left it a bit late to brake but on this occasion it had had fatal and tragic consequences.