POLICE have reconstructed a road smash which claimed the life of a 49-year-old woman in a bid to piece together the moments leading up to the tragedy.

Traffic was backed up in Blackburn yesterday as officers from the Accident Investigation Unit shut down roads around Gorse Street and Burnley Road to try to re-stage the incident involving Klaudija Visockaja.

Mrs Visockaja, a Lithuanian, was walking home after shopping at the nearby Tesco garage when she was hit by a car on Gorse Street which police said had lost control after taking off while travelling over a humpback bridge.

In the exercise, a police car approached the bridge several times before leaving the ground while travelling at more than 50mph in the 30mph zone.

Sergeant Stuart Isherwood said: "This shows us how a car behaved at certain speeds coming over that bridge.

"It actually left the road for a short while and it bottomed out."

During the reconstruction, police officers drove a white Vauxhall Vectra, similar to the off-duty taxi which killed the victim, across the humpback bridge at different speeds.

The scene was recorded on still cameras and video while the car's speed was increased from 24 miles an hour to 53mph.

Officers said the reconstruction could not tell them exactly what speed the car was doing on Sunday night because of differences in weight and conditions.

The hit Mrs Visockaja, of Burnley Road, carrying her for 30 feet before coming to rest in a grass verge at the side of the road.

A man has appeared before Blackburn magistrates charged with causing death by dangerous driving in connection with the death of Mrs Visockaja.