A DRIVER was killed in a rush hour M5 crash because she was exhausted from working extra shifts at a new job, an inquest heard.
Sorina Gheorghe, 24, veered sideways across two lanes of traffic at 60mph before being hit head-on by a Land Rover Discovery after her car spun 180 degrees.
She had panicked as she tried to correct herself while overtaking a van in her Peugeot 206 and had to be cut from the mangled wreck of the car on April 3.
Tragically, Sorina’s boyfriend Cristian Miculaiciuc, 24, was among thousands of drivers trapped in queues in the M5 before discovering his girlfriend had died in the horror smash.
An inquest into her death heard Sorina had been driving to work in Aston, Birmingham, to inspect Jaguar parts when she was struck at 5.40am.
She had started the new job three weeks earlier and the day before she died had worked an extended shift at the plant and was “very tired”.
Romanian-born Sorina was also nervous about driving on British motorways and a “novice, unconfident or nervous driver”, the hearing was told.
Her mum Lulia Garner said she had complained of headaches and tiredness in the days before the fatal crash.
She added: “I think she had a lot on, and she was just doing too much.
“She was not a confident driver and she had complained that the roads are wider with a lot more cars in the UK.”
Dashcam footage showed she had attempted to overtake three times but lost control when she failed to notice the white van and trailer.
She swerved back having just missed making contact with the van and then “in an attempt to regain proper control [began] steering towards the offside while braking hard.”
PC Mark Murphy, forensic investigator for West Mercia Police, said: “With a novice driver the tendency is to keep on the brakes, when releasing the brakes is often more beneficial.”
Assistant coroner Simon Charlton said Sorina was “very tired and suffering from hay fever” at the time of the crash and concluded she had died from multiple injuries as a result of a road traffic collision.
Paying tribute previously, boyfriend Cristian said: “When the accident happened I was stuck in the queue in the back for hours with the lorry having no power to help her or to get there.
“I only found it out it was her an hour into sitting in the queue.
“Sorina was very kind and loving, and she was a very hard worker.
“She always had a positive attitude and did every little thing for us to be happy in her presence.”
