Texts sent second before woman hit: police

Patricia Mica sent a text message just 19 seconds before struck and killed a pedestrian on a Melbourne road, a court has heard.

But the Melbourne woman's lawyer has tried to have a culpable driving charged dropped because there was no evidence she was looking at her phone when she struck Astrid Norman on a Camberwell street in July 2019.

The bid failed and Mica has been ordered to stand trial in Victoria's County Court on that charge and four others, including dangerous and careless driving.

In a hearing in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday, Detective Sergeant Steve Hill said the woman had exchanged three text messages in 90 seconds before the fatal collision on Riversdale Road.

The last was sent 19 seconds before the crash, when she was about 262 metres from the victim.

But Mica's barrister Paul Smallwood said there was no evidence that she had been looking at her phone when she struck Ms Norman.

The court heard Mica told another officer at the scene that she had a vase sitting on her front seat and had taken her eyes off the road for a second to "grab it" when she heard a "bang".

CCTV footage played in court showed the woman crossed one lane of traffic and stopped in the middle of the road, waiting for cars to pass.

Mr Smallwood said Mica had not been drug or alcohol affected, there was no evidence she had breached any road rules prior to sending the first text message, no evidence of erratic driving and she had been driving under the 60km/h speed limit.

"There is no evidence of Ms Mica having used or looked at her mobile phone in the 19 seconds, in the about 262 metres of travel, before the fatal collision," he said.

"There is no evidence she was looking at or using her mobile phone at the time of the fatal collision."

Prosecutor Neill Hutton said the footage showed Mica had an unobstructed view of the victim for three seconds before the crash, which happened in broad daylight.

"If she's travelling in a straight line - not cornering, not braking - there's no reason to be looking at the vase, to not be looking at where her vehicle is going," he said.

"If the car's going forward, she shouldn't be looking at the phone, she shouldn't be sending and receiving text messages, she shouldn't be looking at the vase."

He said it could be inferred from the evidence that Mica was not paying attention, and that alone was "grossly negligent".

She was committed to stand trial and pleaded not guilty. Mica is due to face the County Court on February 9.