Robert Plictha, 24, who was found guilty after a Chichester Crown Court trial at which he denied the charge, was jailed for 12 months. His truck collided with cyclist Barbara Bone, 53, of Arundel Road, Littlehampton, as he tried to overtake her on the A259 at Climping, in April last year. She died from her injuries hours later.

Married Plictha, of Toddington Lane, Littlehampton, broke down as he was sentenced on Tuesday.

Judge Anthony Thorpe said: "I would ask the local authority to look at whether there should be a continuous white line to prevent any overtaking, especially on that shallow bend."

Cycling campaigners though, said that such a precaution would made "no difference whatsoever" to road safety in that area.

Jenny Cole, chairman of Littlehampton Cycling Action Group, said: "Mrs Bone was travelling in the same direction as the lorry, and there is always going to be a danger until a cycle track is put in on that side.

"There is a track on the other side of the road, but there is no way to get to it until you get to just after where the accident happened.
"You then have to cross by the Tesco roundabout, which is always packed full of fast-moving traffic."

She added that such a journey left cyclists "taking their lives into their hands", and that installing the additional lane would be the only way to prevent another catastrophe.

"This is a tragic case. The lives of Mrs Bone's family have been destroyed, and that young man's life in Britain has been ruined."

A spokesman for West Sussex County Council's highway department said: "After any fatal accident in West Sussex, we carefully review with the police our policies regarding the road involved.

"In view of the judge's comments, we will look again at this stretch of the A259. This will also include the markings of the cycle lane."

Plictha had held a heavy goods licence since May 2006, as well as completing further lorry driving courses after arriving in the UK , from Poland, in July of the same year.

"My mum would have forgiven him"

The court heard how he had stopped immediately following the crash, to help a passing nurse administer first aid, and that police crash investigation teams found that Mrs Bone had been hit at 40 or 41 miles per hour, on the 40 miles per hour road.

Mrs Bone's daughter Lucy Jenkins, told the Gazette her mother was a "vibrant person who made friends easily", and that it was comforting to hear that people had stopped to try and help her.

In a victim impact statement, read out in court, she added: "I feel my mum would have forgiven him, and not wanted him to suffer due to her. Everyone makes mistakes."

Sentencing, Judge Thorpe said the punishment, which included a three-year driving ban, "is nothing to what you have done to yourself."
"You will carry the death of that lady on your conscience until the day you die."

He added that Plictha's "obvious genuine shock and remorse", along with the "Christian forgiveness that the family felt Mrs Bone would have wished to express", had been noted by the court.

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