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news
Church Road - Wokingham Road junction, Earley (via StreetView).jpgCyclist in life-threatening condition following collision with pedestrian in Reading
A Reading cyclist has been left in a life-threatening condition following a collision with a pedestrian on Monday evening. The pedestrian, who was crossing the road, was also taken to hospital with minor injuries.
The Reading Chronicle reports that the collision took place near the Three Tuns crossroads in Earley at around 7.30pm. The cyclist was turning onto Church Road from Wokingham Road.
The 29-year-old male cyclist was airlifted to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. He remains in a serious condition with head injuries.
A spokesman for South Central Ambulance Service said: "We got a number of calls at 19.27 to attend a collision between a pedestrian and a cyclist.
"They were both aged in their twenties. One man was flown to John Radcliffe Hospital's Trauma Unit with life-threatening head injuries. The other man was taken to Royal Berkshire Hospital with minor injuries."
A bystander who spoke with police at the scene said: "A cyclist with no helmet came around the corner at high speed and hit a pedestrian who was crossing the road."
Investigating officer PC Justin Aylin-White of the Joint Operations Unit for Roads Policing, said: “I am appealing for anyone who was in the area at the time, and who witnessed this incident, or who may have other details which could help our investigation, to come forward.”
Anyone with any information can call the Thames Valley Police non-emergency number on 101, quoting reference '1360 (20/3)', or contact Crimestoppers anonymously.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
Latest Comments
- Hirsute 5 min 11 sec ago
According to twitter @magistratesblog It's an obligatory disqualification, so it will have been made.
- slc 27 min 53 sec ago
QUB has more than 20,000 students. Those 80 somewhat secure spaces are going to be putting in a lot of work. ...
- RoubaixCube 29 min 4 sec ago
Could it also be that the victim didnt have valid insurance/driving license or M.O.T so didnt report it in fear of themselves being investigated???...
- RoubaixCube 34 min 54 sec ago
You mean they called up one of their friends or family members to stump up the £7 to get it greenlit....
- Keesvant 45 min 45 sec ago
If the chains snap that is lack of build quality or material.....
- Hirsute 1 hour 41 min ago
"Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good."
- Jaijai 2 hours 6 min ago
His life was only worth shy of 7 years ,that's too lenient in every book .Let alone drugged up and leaving him to die
- webbierwrex 2 hours 11 min ago
I came here to basically write the same thing, the floating bus stop near me has a very narrow cycling lane between a very narrow pavement and a...
- AS52 2 hours 34 min ago
It wasn't an official consultation meeting - see my comment above.
- GMBasix 3 hours 8 min ago
Right, well that could be handy: I'm going round with my baseball bat to have a quiet chat about ownership. You can use their names to see if they...
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49 comments
willythepimp, you have made me cry twice now. I thank you.
I wish him smooth roads and tailwinds wherever his front wheel roams
Will have to take a long route home tomorrow and take a moment there. Too many people have died on the road surrounding the uni.
Arse. I will give him a nod as I ride through that junction later.
Oh that's rough. Real sad. You really can go at any time if your luck runs out.
Have to feel for the family..
Update - Sadly get reading reported that the cyclist died earlier today.
Clearly, based on that fact, something needs to be done about pedestrians. They're dangerous, they don't wear hi-viz, just step out - they think they own the roads or something.
/sarcasm -off
Can someone point me at the stats again for cyclists killing pedestrians, that are apparently so awful that Something Must Be Done (tm).
As mentioned, there is far too little info for us to be apportioning blame, however the witness does seem pretty clear in their summation.
"the cyclist was riding like a lunatic, taking his life into his own hands by not wearing protective equipment... deserved it"
As also mentioned, there is no legal need to wear a helmet, and not wearing a helmet does not indicate a lack of skill or road safety responsibility.
As for speeding, again, as already mentioned, cyclists moving at modest speeds will look fast to pedestrians, so whilst the chap in question may have riding like a loon, he may have been riding at an entirely appropriate speed.
So basically, the witnesses comments are fairly invalid... I just hope they are not taken as gospel in isolation, and blame automatically apportioned to the cyclist without due process.
The pedestrian probably only suffered minor injuries because he was wearing a helmet. Surprised the bystander didn't mention this.
In my experience, pedestrians will (sometimes) look, weigh up the vehicle approaching, then decide to cross or not. If you're on a bike they seem to make the decision to cross in front of you more than when you're in a car. The assumption is you will just give way, which is annoying.
If I get a deliberate jaywalker I'll buzz them as close as possible.
Jaywalking isn't a thing here. I think it's more a case of perceived danger, they see a bike and think it's safe for them to put themselves in front of it, much like many drivers seem to do. They don't even think long enough about what speed you are travelling and that your stopping distance might be longer than a car.
That's assuming they've actually bothered to look, plenty seem to step into the road without looking based on the fact that they cannot hear an engine approaching
Oh, you really shouldn't deliberately "buzz" pedestrians... I'm sure you've heard the term "punishment pass"?
100% agree with this.
I really hope you never drive a motor vehicle. Please never do it near me.
Is it really a decent reaction to further endanger someone who has made an error of judgement around their own safety?
Sure, give them a glare or shout "careful!" if you must, but I don't think punishment passing pedestrians makes things better for anyone. Later in the day they might just be driving their 4x4/bus/40t lorry past you.
We ought all really to be looking out for pedestrians who might walk out in front of us. Admittedly sometimes, though, you think there is absolutely no way someone is going to cross in front of you and then they do. I had this with a bin man who looked straight at me from fairly close range, then stepped out. I braked and swerved in time to not come close to hitting him, but it did make me think. Sounded like his colleagues gave him some verbal stick! I'm pretty sure he just misjudged my speed (probably about 17-20mph, passing the bin lorry, going downhill.)
I'm talking about the surly teenager/trainee thug who sees you and walks out anyway placing the onus on you to take action because they have taken a deliberate option to walk into your path. I'm not talking about someone who never looked up from a phone, or wobbly granny. You know exactly what sort of person I'm on about, the 'do you want some?' types.
I know the sensible thing is to diffuse things by always backing down but from time to time why should you always back down? The video today of the old codger poking people in the chest proves people think cyclists are easy pickings, even fat old men are happy to try their hand.
Respectfully suggest you stop digging.
To be fair, I see Yorkshire Wallets argument. All I hear about on these forums is the need to turn the other cheek, be the better man / woman, show respect and act responsibly to promote a positive image of cycling.
With all due respect, this attitude gets us no where. "Don't say anything, don't do anything and people will be nicer to us.... " its not an argument that stacks up too well in my opinion.
Not saying the answer is out and out aggression, but neither is being a subservient sub-species on our highways.
Personally speaking, I don't think that many people walk out in front of cyclists as an act of aggression, i think its more that the general populous believe that cyclists are second rate citizens that don't belong on the roads, pavements, dedicated cycling paths....
We need to push back against the negative press somehow.
I would suggest cyclists "buzzing" pedestrians, is unlikely to be the answer to this dilema.
I kind-of get what you mean, but, as this case illustrates, its quite likely you'd come off worst if there was a collision, and I'm not confident of your (or my) ability to instantly judge the character and nature of any given careless pedestrian in the heat of the moment.
Personally I'd just play safe. Though shouting at them as you escape into the distance is always an option, I guess.
I nearly ploughed through a whole family group once - clear road, good visibility, etc. About half of them crossed the road ahead of me, which was fine - the other half dozen, complete with pushchair, waited until I was practically on top of them before stepping off the kerb. Fortunately, there was enough of a gap between the 2 groups for me to swerve through. Yes, I was going at a reasonable lick, but it was a 40mph limit road.
I'm a big believer that people generally don't appreciate how fast some cyclists can go and expect them all to be tootling around like a granny on a shopper bike, despite the clue that you're on a road bike in Lycra. In contrast, despite rarely being anywhere near the speed limit of the road you're on, you're always "speeding" on a bike. You can't win.
To quote the witness in the article: "A cyclist with no helmet came around the corner at high speed and hit a pedestrian who was crossing the road." The cyclist was probably doing 10-15mph in a 30mph zone, yet, somehow, he was apparently speeding. Unlikely, but would be interesting to see if he had anything like Strava running at the time.
As ChrisB says, we can't imply that the cyclist deliberately ignored the pedestrian. Pedestrians are not entirely blameless or in the right by virtue of the highway code. Any vehicle has a stopping distance, even a bicycle. I have had pedestrians step out in front of me plenty of times and had a few near misses (not as many as car on me of course.) I was once turning left at a green light on Oxford Road in the middle of Manchester when a woman pushed a pram out in front of me to cross the road. I stopped in time, shocked as she just glared at me and walked across on red as if it was my fault I nearly hit her baby because there were no oncoming cars. Someone stepping out from the pavement can become a hazard in less than one second, but if this happened to a car which was just proceeding on a green light and someone stepped out in front, you would say they were not at fault because how could they stop in time?
No matter what you are doing people look but don't see. It takes two beats to judge speed, but most people don't give the road enough attention.
I walk this junction twice a Day at the moment.
There are no pedestrian lights crossing Church road - as mentioned by lastboyscout
This area is close to the uni, and students/deliveroo riders can't seem to buy/use lights, understand pavements are for pedestrians, pedestrians don't understand roads are for cars/bikes etc, realise we drive /ride on the left, red means stop - I could go on....
So I would love to know some more details - see CCTV
But this is a bad junction for walkers, cyclist and motorists - and I'm all three....
and don't get me started on u turning double deckers!!
#accidentwaitingtohappenanditdid
Except for motorways, roads are for everybody, not just cars/bikes etc, but pedestrians too.
This is a very important right and is one of the reasons why we don't have jaywalking laws in this country.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6251431.stm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26073797
Or the vehicles heading NW along Wokingham Road that turn into the BP garage without any warning! For that reason alone, I generally approach that junction in the RH lane if I'm going straight on. The ones turning right are generally pretty good about indicating and don't slam on their brakes to avoid pedestrians crossing the forecourt entrance!
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Where does "presumed liability" stand for a situation such as this?
If I understand it right (a big if...), then wouldn't the cyclist initially be deemed responsible, irrespective of circumstance?
"to be fair pedestrians think anything faster than walking speed is high speed on a bicycle."
"Motorists follow that rule all the time... oh wait"
I'm a pedestrian, a motorist and a cyclist. Its a wonder my head doesn't explode with all the stereotypes fighting in there. There is nowhere near enough evidence to make a judgement on anyone involved.
I hope both parties recover quickly. Thats all there is to it really.
By far the most sensible post anybody has made on this topic!
to be fair pedestrians think anything faster than walking speed is high speed on a bicycle.
Whilst that is certainly true, at this particular junction, the slowest two wheeled vehicle will probably be faster than the fastest four (or more) wheeled vehicle - if turning left into Church Road (which was most probably the case). The corner is very tight, pretty much square.
I hope both parties recover.
It might be worth noting however that the vehicle user (ie the cyclist) came off worst. Unlike if the vehicle was a motor vehicle. That is one of the reasons why we don't go round deliberately trying to terrorise pedestrians.
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