Ian Fitzgerald said he had checked in all directions before proceeding

Ian Fitzgerald, 29, a trainee paramedic, was driving through red lights at a busy junction near Newbury last October, when he collided with a Peugeot 206 driven by 40-year-old Rosemary Fenney.

The schoolteacher, who had right of way, died instantly of injuries to her head and chest.

Jurors at Reading Crown Court heard how six months before the crash, Mr Fitzgerald, who denies causing death by dangerous driving, spent three weeks on an advanced driving course but only two hours were spent driving an ambulance.

Rosemary Fenney died instantly in the crash

During the course, he was taught to treat red lights like give-way signs and stop if necessary.

Police accident investigators suggested to jurors that the ambulance driver should have slowed to a maximum of 7mph in order to see safely around the blind bend at Firtree Lane.

But they explained to the court how they had used tyre marks to determine that the ambulance was travelling at over 30 mph at the time of the impact.

In a police interview, Mr Fitzgerald, of Trowbridge, Wiltshire, told officers he had checked in all directions before proceeding through the traffic lights.

He had only been in second gear, travelling no more than 20 to 25 mph, he said.

But about 10 witnesses told the court he had been moving between 40 and 60 mph, one of them saying he had been "driving like a nutcase".

The defence said Mr Fitzgerald was not driving too fast for the circumstances, and that calculations used by police were imprecise.

The trial continues.