Seeing as he rode into someone it looks very much like it was not bright enough

Utter dog rot

The nature of the pedestrians clothing is a huge factor here – if he was wearing dark or even camouflage clothing while walking down the middle of an unlit/barely lit road late at night, then all the lights in the world would not have made any difference – collisions like this happen regularly between cars and pedestrians, and even more ofrten animals, where the nature of their fur makes them practically invisible to drivers, despite adequate lighting.

This wouldn’t even be news if it had of been a car that killed him.

Edit – Actually it probably would be, the Fail would just turn it into an attack on the NHS/A&E.

A tragic accident, though if it had been between a car and pedestrian in the same spot it would not have made the news.

Thankfully, fatal collisions involving cyclists and pedestrians are rare. This is what makes them newsworthy.

Sad for all. However the rider shouldn’t have hit him. If you can’t stop you are wrong. If you can’t see you are wrong. Actual speed isn’t a problem. The speed at that moment was.

This seems very much like the “blinded by the low sun” excuse given by drivers for not slowing down to a safe speed for the conditions, which is a crime far too often allowed by the legal system.

I thought this too. We seem to be a bit reluctant to prosecute folk who don’t adjust their driving (and now riding) to the conditions if they are still within the road’s given speed limit. If as cyclists we (rightly) feel aggrieved at the lack of action for the sun dazzled driver we would be hypocrites if we didn’t look for the same level of prosecution for ‘one of our own’.

The nature of the pedestrians clothing is a huge factor here

it may be a factor but it’s still not the victims fault, pedestrians don’t have to wear hi-vis or carry lights, the faster moving vehicles are supposed to watch out for them – same as wild life really. We could get everyone to wear hi-vis vests with flashing leds 24/7 but all that would happen is people would get used to only looking for hi-vis and leds and run into anything that wasn’t covered in them.

You are supposed to walk on the right facing traffic nearest you, something not many people to – dunno if this was a factor.

Maybe it was just an accident; a collection of circumstances that resulted in a collision.

I wonder what the significant (Highway Code) breaches were

Probably that he didn’t have a bell and reflectors. Coz we all do, don’t we?

You are supposed to walk on the right facing traffic nearest you, something not many people to – dunno if this was a factor.

And also move to the outside of bends where practical.

I’ve had a few near-misses. Often I approach a walker with their back to me on my side of the road. Move to overtake and as they look back over their right shoulder at the tyre/freewheel noise they also drift out further into the road pushing me further to the right.
I’ve become very aware of this drifting now (when walkers are going downhill it can be a 2-3m movement) and often have to drop to 5mph or less to pass on country lanes, just to be sure.

i.e. what looks like a safe passing margin, can suddenly become a collision course.

Of course, I don’t think I or anyone else knows what happened in this case.

25mph in road and lighting conditions where the rider couldn’t see a pedestrian in time to steer round him? What if it was a boulder or a log lying in the road, or a missing manhole cover? If you can’t avoid a pedestrian you are going too fast.
Because the risk is small and people can get away with it most of the time doesn’t make it OK.
We don’t know what happened here but if the ped was walking with his back to the approaching cyclist, unlike with motor vehicles he would have had no warning prior to the crash. Probably in the same place a sober ped would step against the hedge/wall if being passed by a car.
I’m reminded of a fatal crash I went to years ago. A drunk male walking down the center of a road with no footways or streetlighting at night. Facing away from the traffic dressed in black. His was hit by a black hackney at 45-50mph. No charges then either.

everyone is going on about the bike.

what about the man. he shouldn’t have been in the road. but he was because no pavement, so was he wearing a hi vis ?. did he have a torch ? it says he was coming back from his daughters dinner party. was he drunk/drinking ??. The cyclist wasn’t speeding, conditions or not, legally that does not come into it. common sense though is a different thing.

also Ive had strava say i was doing over 100mph on some segments, and we all no how reliable that is !!!

freak accident imo. right decision.

25mph in road and lighting conditions where the rider couldn’t see a pedestrian in time to steer round him? What if it was a boulder or a log lying in the road, or a missing manhole cover? If you can’t avoid a pedestrian you are going too fast

Utter rubbish. Many false assumptions there.

A ped is a moving target, what if bike had moved to avoid and pedestrian stepped aside as well? Like that dance you do when you meet someone in a corridor?

What if you are moving to avoid the manhole and then see the pedestrian who is dressed in black with a balaclava?

You don’t know; why lay the blame?

Just a freak accident, sad for the chaps family and the cyclist, but also sad for the management of the hospital; who failed to treat him in time.

What a terrible thing to happen for all involved – when it comes to this sort of thing I have to rely on the Police so establish who, if anyone, has a case to answer and the courts to decide guilt – it’s all well and good us reading a few scant details in a couple of paragraphs – but I doubt it scratches the surface of what happened.

I don’t ride on the road or near pedestrians much, but it’s given me something to think about – I would also hope the at least some of the people who seem to enjoy walking / hiking on designated mountain bike trails read this too, I don’t get angry with them, sometimes I say ‘Hi’, occasionally I politely and calmly explain where they are, and that people ride fast and hard, sometimes around blind bends because it’s a mountain bike trail, but they just look as me a bit silly like I’ve told them off or something – but 100kgs of bike and rider hitting you at 25mph (a decent speed off-road) can be fatal it seems.

what about the man. he shouldn’t have been in the road. but he was because no pavement, so was he wearing a hi vis ?. did he have a torch ? it says he was coming back from his daughters dinner party. was he drunk/drinking ??. The ****** wasn’t speeding, conditions or not,

This thread is quite revealing. Very often here, and in other cyclist friendly places, there is much demonisation of motorists for their attitude of trying to apportion blame at everyonelses doors when bad things happen. Quotes like above could so easily have been written by an ‘evil’ motorist looking to excuse the driver. Just shows we are all the same really.

project – Member

Just a freak accident, sad for the chaps family and the cyclist, but also sad for the management of the hospital; who failed to treat him in time.

Posted 5 minutes ago # Report-Post

Are you assuming that if he’d been seen in say 5 mins rather than 50 he would be okay now?

Are you also assuming that given limited resources, limited staff and limited capacity that it’s possible to provide an unlimited service?

I think that’s a bit of a leap A&E departments aren’t magic and the coroner didn’t mention the wait as being a contributing factor – it was tagged on the end by The Fail.

astonished by all the ‘just an accident’ comments.

This thread is quite revealing. Very often here, and in other cyclist friendly places, there is much demonisation of motorists for their attitude of trying to apportion blame at everyonelses doors when bad things happen. Quotes like above could so easily have been written by an ‘evil’ motorist looking to excuse the driver. Just shows we are all the same really.

This.

+1

A tragic accident for sure, and I know the area and roads concerned. I would just like to highlight the shameful hypocrisy of those who are saying the pedestrian should have had a hi-vis and torch, or assuming the pedestrian was at fault. This is exactly the kind of hand-wringing drivers use when they kill or injure cyclists and pedestrians. It is simply manipulating the guilt of one party by putting the onus on the victim to have prevented a collision. Sure, in some instances victims could have mitigated the outcome with certain actions, but to just turn to the default position of victim-blaming is wrong. It’s the very thing we cyclist (rightly) hate so much when we are victims, so why so easily employ it when the tables are turned?

I think the only conclusion is that none of us know the facts and are in a position to judge.
Yet we insist on trying to do so.

We can all take something from this- take more care on shared paths/round high hedges/country lanes in bad light.

I’ll have this at the back of my mind if I’m ever in a similar situation.

hora – Member
Ok lights off and 25mph? Sorry and he wasn’t charged?

Jesus H. Christ. Read the article

I would just like to highlight the shameful hypocrisy of those who are saying the pedestrian should have had a hi-vis

I think they were being deliberately ironic to highlight the same things that you did.

Balls

@Donk, I agree with you, I wish this wasn’t the reality

@mrmoosehead, quite a lot of the facts where established at the hearing. Enough for us to form an opinion

Just shows we are all the same really.

Not all.

Have you used a GPS? That info tells us nothing at all about how much the cyclist braked – it’s clearly incorrect to suggest that the GPS shows 25.1mph at impact as the resolution of GPS speed data isn’t sufficiently good to tell, so that is either poor reporting or dodgy evidence. All you can say is that he was travelling at 25mph just before the impact.

Coroner Peter Brunton found that the poor street lighting and excessive speed for the circumstances caused the collision.

I’ll bet the coroner has never blamed excessive speed for a pedestrian death when hit by a car doing 25mph.

Perhaps rather than everyone making assumptions we should leave the decision to the person who had all of them. The Coroner, who has decided that this wasn’t a criminal act and therefore ‘misadventure’. Unless people know something the coroner didn’t?

That’s the attitude that lets so many other drivers “get away” with killing people. The limit is an absolute limit no matter the conditions, but you should also take the conditions into account and adjust your driving/riding.

The speed limit does not apply to bicycles. Regardless, he hit the pedestrian so was going too fast.

Legend – back off. I’d relooked at it after that comment was posted and then my subsequent ones. Ya Village fool 🙄

czthompson – Member
Perhaps rather than everyone making assumptions we should leave the decision to the person who had all of them. The Coroner, who has decided that this wasn’t a criminal act and therefore ‘misadventure’. Unless people know something the coroner didn’t

Blimey. Get you, coming along being all sensible!

I marvelled at his balls but on the many bends wondered what would happen if a car driver tried overtaking another coming the other way and how he’d cope/react.

I doubt there’s much difference between a closing speed of 110 mph vs 80 mph when it comes to a soft squishy human being mashed by a car overtaking on a blind corner.

What led you to draw that comparison?

I know that he wouldn’t have made similar comments about a car going too fast if it was travelling at the same speed as the bicycle, which tends to discredit much of what he says.

Perhaps rather than everyone making assumptions we should leave the decision to the person who had all of them. The Coroner, who has decided that this wasn’t a criminal act and therefore ‘misadventure’. Unless people know something the coroner didn’t

Agreed..

I think we should be applying the same principles to when a car hits a cyclist however. The double standards on here are all to evident.

Too many cyclists get off with this these days !

Please supply some more examples, unless you’re too busy organising Top Gear petitions or canvassing for UKIP today.

I think we should be applying the same principles to when a car hits a cyclist however. The double standards on here are all to evident.

The strict liability law that many of us would like to see enacted would take care of this.

Sad story.
Strangely enough someone rang my work yesterday complaining that a cyclist was going too fast along the lane before turning into my work. Receptionist knew it was me straight away as I’m the only cyclist. I checked strava and I was doing 25.6m/h. Speed limit is 30.

Strangely enough someone rang my work yesterday complaining that a cyclist was going too fast along the lane before turning into my work

some people will complain about anything. Bloody weirdos.

The speed limit does not apply to bicycles.

I know I was more pointing out the attitude that aslong a person wasn’t breaking a hard and fast rule (like a speed limit) then “it was just an accident”, while ignoring the more woolly “don’t be a dick” rules which is more open to interpretation and abuse.

Like AlexSimon I’ve been passing a walker at a “safe” distance and he heard me approaching and blindly run across my path, I hit him, walker apologised profusely for running into my path but I had to (and did) accept the blame.

We don’t know all the facts but as I said I’m surprised at the no charges bit, as coroner had already pointed the finger at the cyclist I wonder what opposing factors there could have been. If the victim had done nothing wrong and was just unlucky to be there at that point in time then “it was all just a terrible accident” doesn’t really cut it.

We don’t know enough to judge, and the people that do have made their judgement

Very sad to hear though

We don’t know enough to judge, and the people that do have made their judgement

I admire your faith in the judicial process but there are some errors in that summing up (the speed on gps taken as impact speed for example) as well as a judge who says he’s never seen anything like it (seriously?!) and the police telling the inquest that the investigation was compromised by delays. Seems to me like there was almost as much speculation in the courtroom as there has been on here.

I’m always amazed that people take media reports as gospel. I’m sure that there is no selective reporting of what was said by the Coroner. That’s not something the press would do, is it?

And I’m saddened at the double standards made evident on this thread – this has already been explained by others above so I won’t rehash it.

Bottom line, a person has lost his life. 🙁

Si