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broken bike.jpgBerkshire cyclist died after pedestrian stepped out in front of him, finds inquest
A Reading coroner has recorded a verdict of death by road traffic collision after a cyclist lost his life following a collision with a man who walked out into the road in front of him.
Gloucester Live reports that Benjamin Pedley was cycling across the Three Tuns crossroads in Earley shortly before 7.30pm on Monday, March 20 when Nathan Kelsell stepped out in front of him.
Kelsell and his friend Billy Astill had been going to buy sweets at the Co-Op after having a drink at the Three Tuns pub.
Astill told the inquest at Reading Town Hall: “Nathan walked out into the road and I went to cross but saw a cyclist coming at some speed from Wokingham Road. But I couldn’t do anything, the cyclist collided with Nathan and they both went flying into the air.”
Collision investigator Kevin Spiller said Pedley was travelling at around 24mph. He could not say whether the nearby set of traffic lights were red or green when Pedley rode through them.
Pedley was taken to John Radcliffe Hospital, but died two days later as a result of a severe traumatic brain injury.
Police found working lights and brakes on his road bike after the crash. He had not been wearing a helmet, but Dr Christopher Kearns said that wearing one would probably not have saved his life such was the force of the collision.
Kelsell also sustained injuries and has no memory of the collision.
Andrew Pedley, Ben’s father, said there was “no safe pedestrian crossing from Parkers to the Co-op” and called for Wokingham Borough Council to review the junction.
Ben’s mother, Jacqui, emphasised that the council was not wholly responsible. “He was a keen and accomplished cyclist. If someone hadn’t stepped out into the road, the accident would never have happened. It was avoidable. He did not expect someone to boing out into the road without looking.”
A traffic management expert said there were “no obvious traffic management issues” but recommended that a “pedestrian controlled function” be installed outside the Co-op.
A Wokingham Borough Council traffic management engineer said that installing a pedestrian crossing on that section of Church Road “had not come under consideration," but added: “There is no reason why we can’t investigate this further.”
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
- brooksby 5 min 13 sec ago
Problem is, too many people would still rather do the 45 minute drive and complain about it than do the 25 minute walk…
- mdavidford 20 min 46 sec ago
I think you're missing an opportunity to pack even more tech into it - add accelerometers that can detect whether they're pedalling or stepping....
- mdavidford 32 min 58 sec ago
Maybe one and the same thing though. They're not exactly short of populists over there, any more than we are. I'm sure if those people thought they...
- chrisonabike 45 min 27 sec ago
Thanks. I guess the question is "need". If the road is busy, it sounds like it is a desired route between places? In which case (given this an...
- mdavidford 53 min 24 sec ago
Don't know what you mean. I thought my suggestion was entirely practical.
- mdavidford 55 min 54 sec ago
...and a square of faux sheepskin for the back of your saddle.
- Rapha Nadal 1 hour 27 min ago
I'd buy a motorbike fo rthat kind of money!
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30 comments
RIP.
Sadly this tragic collision is a mirror image of the Kim Biggs/Charlie Allison case, and is also a mirror image in terms of media coverage.
Of course most newspaper readers and website visitors aren't cyclists, and therefore are less likely to read this story, that is why editors put little emphasis on it as it won't earn them as much revenue.
Rather than using these cases to highlight road safety and the green cross code, they use it to try and provoke arguments in order to earn money. Putting profit in front of morals and ethics.
RIP brother.
There seems to be some sort of public sentiment that the speed limit isn't a cycling speed limit and anything over 15 is speeding.
So a pedestrian who had been drinking walks out into the road and kills a cyclist who was riding perfectly legally, but no media hysteria?
I wonder what would happen to a cyclist who had been drinking and then knocked down a pedestrian on the pavement and killed them? A rope from the nearest lamp post would be my guess.
if only one of them had a skull tattoo while the other had a functioning reproductive system
Can't recall seeing this on the BBC News ? Surely they should report all accidents where cyclists and pedestrians have collided resulting in a fatality, now that they've set a presedence ? I don't get how they can estimate the speed of the cyclist (24mph) but cannot remember if the lights at the junction they were crossing at the time where on red or green.
Anti-cylist cops are a menance to cyclists and need eradicating, as do dangerous drivers and pedestrians.
This was a tragic accident, I'm really very sorry to hear about it.
A similar thing happened to me and I was hospitalised. Being British, first thing I said when I looked up was "sorry, are you ok?" -
from the floor where I was tangled in the wreckage of my bike with my fingers dislocated and broken, bleeding from my shoulder, to the old man I had brushed past and dodged by riding into a fence at about the same speed, 24mph after he just randomly walked out in front of me. He was fine. Just one of those things. I felt no anger towards him, I was just bloody happy he was alright. He didn't wait for the ambulance which bugged me a bit but I chuckled afterwards - after observation when they said I didn't need a CT scan as I had bashed my head too.
Worth remembering that you are pretty much silent on a bike and not much you can do if people walk out. I did upgrade my brakes afterwards though and am a little more aware of my aural invisibility. I tend to freewheel a bit around people if they look uncertain to give warning from the clicking.
New laws demand cyclists must have spokey-doke's, a playing card flicking on the wheels, or Hope free-hubs. [/sarcasm]
A little off-topic but there's a shared use trail that has some mtb trails off it near me, and passing peds must put some effort into not hearing my aggressive pawl buzz, some even manage to ignore the classic English polite-yet-awkward "Ahem.. ...Excuse me,... ..please(?) Coming past on the right"
Cool. I miss my childhood spokey-dokes, but too much a conformist to addorn my road bike with them. Butf the law demands ...
For those situations I'd like some sort of loudspeaker/bell-subsitute that plays a very loud quick burst of 'The Flight of the Valkyries', or maybe the chorus of Queen's 'Bicycle Race'.
well some of them might be deaf, like me, so give that some thought, please.
well some of them might be deaf, like me, so give that some thought, please.
[/quote]
Indeed, but if you are in fact deaf, you will adapt your behaviour to suit, and would look behind you before walking out into the road. Because you wouldn't hear a car either.
Indeed, but if you are in fact deaf, you will adapt your behaviour to suit, and would look behind you before walking out into the road. Because you wouldn't hear a car either.
[/quote]
yes, I am in fact deaf, and yes, I do look when I step into the road, but that's not the situation that the person quoted above is describing. He is describing approaching people from behind.
[/quote]
Can I ask, then, what would be your recommended course of action in that situation? They can't hear the cyclist's bell or calls. Presumably the cyclist can't just poke them. But the cyclist can't get past, and doesn't want to just follow them at countryside-walking pace until they choose to stop or look around...? Genuinely interested, etiquette minded in case I ever encounter that circumstance.
Can I ask, then, what would be your recommended course of action in that situation? They can't hear the cyclist's bell or calls. Presumably the cyclist can't just poke them. But the cyclist can't get past, and doesn't want to just follow them at countryside-walking pace until they choose to stop or look around...? Genuinely interested, etiquette minded in case I ever encounter that circumstance.
[/quote]
what would you like a cyclist to do if for some reason you hadn't heard them?
When I'm cycling in that sort of situation I wait until I can pass without being obnoxious about it, or until the person or people realise I'm there.
It's quite a common situation where I live, and there are shared paths and a lot of tourists. You have to be patient. It's no different to expecting a motorist to wait until they can pass a cyclist safely.
Can I ask, then, what would be your recommended course of action in that situation? They can't hear the cyclist's bell or calls. Presumably the cyclist can't just poke them. But the cyclist can't get past, and doesn't want to just follow them at countryside-walking pace until they choose to stop or look around...? Genuinely interested, etiquette minded in case I ever encounter that circumstance.
[/quote]
Well yes, actually yes you do. In the same way as we expect motorists to slow down, give us room and only overtake when safe.
There is no right for a cyclist, car driver or any road user to push past or bully a slower road user. Full stop. In the circumstances of a pedestrian wandering in the road without apparently being aware of what is going on around them, my alarm bells would be ringing.
OK, thanks. I wasn't seeking carte blanche to bully anyone, btw
I'd hope that if they were using a shared use path then they'd be looking around a lot more frequently, though, so as to be considerate? (Like I do if I'm walking a shared-use path, or cycling a single track road)
(I think I'm going to stop digging myself this particular hole, now...
)
Why is the speed of the cyclist even an issue? In each of the following articles a pedestrian has been killed by a car at traffic lights......
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/744935/man-killed-fog-woman-injured-car...
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/district/southampton/15382107.Pedestrian...
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/air-ambulance-serious-incid...
Not one single mention of speed in any of these articles, not one single mention of whether the driver ran a red light, or whether the driver was wearing their seatbelt.
Why is mainstream media so biassed in reporting cycling incidents
I have to say I am sceptical of the quoted 24mph speed at that junction - it seems rather high for normal circumstances.
The junction is at the top of a hill after a bit of a drag up whichever way you approach it on Wokingham Road. Assuming heading West, that's potentially (I don't know his full route that evening) over a mile of up hill. It's certainly possible to ride up there at over 20mph, but when you leave the end of the cycle lane, you'd be pretty unlikely to get across 2 lanes of traffic (3, if you count the left turn lane and you will get drivers pass you and then dive into that) and turn right while carrying that sort of speed through the junction.
That assumes you get lucky with a green light when you need it.
The only way I could see anyone going through there at 24mph would be when sprinting to get through on amber - but surely that sort of effort would have been apparent in the CCTV?
Another scenario might be that he was attempting to chase someone who cut him up coming out of the bike lane.
Sadly, we'll never know the exact circumstances.
I did notice that the floral tributes have now gone from the lamp post.
Agreed, I'm pretty quick on Wokingham road but 24mph seems very optimistic (albeit totally irrelevant!). It's fairly flat and only gently uphill, but it is a long hill, and it's unlikely he'd have come from from anywhere other than a lot further down the same road towards Wokingham.
For context:
https://www.strava.com/segments/12655217
I expected this would be the verdict.
Where's the media hype? Where's the fury? Will this pedestrian be treated much the same way Alliston was treated?
At the very least I demand to know if the sick pervert pedestrian had a skull tattoo on his neck!
http://metro.co.uk/2017/08/24/cyclist-behind-mothers-death-hid-skull-tat...
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."
From the previous article: do people really say this?
Let's see Richard Madeley et als fury at this pedestrian. The papers will be full of it, "calls on Government to introduce new law of frantic walking to protect vulnerable car drivers"!
So I assume the pedestrian will be charged with manslaughter and causing grievous harm by wanton and furious walking under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act...
So will the pedestrian be charged with manslaughter?
Nope, Wanton and Furious walking :-o
Seeing as they'd been in the pub, did the ped get breathalysed?
Very much RIP and well wishes to the family etc.
Now:
I like how they mention the speed of the cycle and lack of knowledge as to the colour of the light - are the Police and Justice System actually internet trolls?
Why is the pedestrian not facing manslaughter charges, was he breathalysed, what was the tread pattern on his trains?
This Country absolutely sickens me!