A CORONER has urged motorcyclists to wear 'appropriate clothing' while riding after the death of a 29-year-old woman on the Wessex Way.

Monika Kunda, of Studland Road, Alum Chine, died of multiple injuries after losing control of her black Yamaha motorbike on Tuesday, August 14 last year. At an inquest into her death, which was held at Bournemouth coroner's court on Friday, it was heard she had been wearing boots with a chunky heel at the time of the crash.

A witness saw her stretching her left leg away from the side of the bike in the seconds before the collision. It then appeared as if she was unable to put her boot back on the peg, it was heard.

Jemma Gibbons was driving behind Ms Kunda when the crash happened in the eastbound carriageway of the A338 near the sliproad for the Richmond Hill roundabout.

In a written statement read aloud to the court, Ms Gibbons said she noticed Ms Kunda was wearing a black leather jacket, which appeared to be a "fashion item", black boots decorated with diamanté with a "two- to three-inch chunky heel" and a "bright pink" crash helmet.

After the motorbike and the car passed the covered-over speed camera, Ms Gibbons noticed the rider was "doing something with her leg leg" as if "stretching out cramp".

"Her foot wasn't on the peg. Her helmet was different, as if she was looking down," Ms Gibbons told police.

"She was having trouble getting her foot back on the peg. She struggled for around two seconds."

Ms Kunda, a bank worker who was born in Poland, was in the centre of the carriage when when "suddenly the bike seemed to go out from underneath her," the court heard. The bike fell on the left-hand side and Ms Kunda slid along the road surface towards the crash barrier.

Members of the public stopped to help. However, Ms Gibbons said Ms Kunda, who lost her helmet in the collision, was unresponsive.

"This tragic incident will remain with me for the rest of my life and I feel so terribly sad that I couldn't have done more," she said.

Sergeant Mark Scammell, of Dorset Police's roads policing unit, said the motorbike had no mechanical defect which might explain the crash. Excess speed was also not a factor, it was heard.

"There would appear to be some degree of distraction immediately prior to the bike falling to the ground," he said.

Coroner Brendan Allen recorded a conclusion that Ms Kunda had died as the result of a road traffic collision.

"She was in the nearside lane, appropriately riding in the middle of the lane. She was not travelling at excess speed," he said.

"She was, for some reason, distracted by her footwear. She was wearing boots with a high heel."

After moving her left leg away, she appeared to have difficulty putting her foot back on the peg, "which distracted her", Mr Allen said.

At the end of the inquest, he said it is of the "utmost importance" that bikers wear "appropriate clothing" when riding a motorcycle, "no matter how short the journey and no matter how familiar the person is with the journey".