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news
Lockhaugh Rd ahead of Sherburn Park Drive turn, Rowlands Gill (Google Street View)Council warned “future deaths could occur” unless speed limit is lowered on road where cyclist was killed by overtaking minibus driver
A coroner has urged a council to lower the speed limit of a residential road in Newcastle, deeming the current 40mph limit as “unsafe” and as having the potential to cause further fatalities, following an inquest into a cyclist’s death after he was hit by an overtaking minibus driver.
John Liddle, 44, was riding southwards on the A694 Lockhaugh Road in Rowlands Gill, wearing a yellow hi-vis jacket and with lights at about 11:40pm on 3rd May 2023 when the driver of a Mercedes minibus hit him.
As he moved into the centre of the road to turn onto Sherburn Park Drive, the driver hit him and he suffered life-threatening head injuries. He was then taken to Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary, where he died 18 days later. Following the collision, the driver remained at the scene to assist officers with their enquiries.
Now, an inquest into Liddle’s death held at Newcastle Coroners’ Court last week heard that he died of a blunt head injury.
Lockhaugh Road is a residential road in Rowlands Gill, a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead of Tyne and Wear, and Senior Coroner Georgina Nolan has slammed the 40mph speed limit in place at the location as “unsafe”.
She added that she believed “there is a risk that future deaths could occur unless action is taken”, and relayed her concerns to Gateshead Council in the Prevention of Future Deaths report, a document issued when a coroner believes action should be taken to avoid future fatalities.
She wrote: “At the time of the collision the area of the A694 upon which Mr Liddle was cycling was subject to a 40 miles per hour speed limit. The speed limit on this area of road has now (temporarily) been reduced to 30 miles per hour.
“The road is within a residential area, the road encompasses bends and junctions, and there have been a number of other collisions along the stretch of road involving pedal cycles, pedestrians and motor vehicles.
“A 40 miles per hour speed limit is unsafe for this stretch of road. In my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe you and/or your organisation have the power to take such action.”
The Northern Echo reports that Gateshead Council will now have 56 days to respond to the Coroner explaining what action it will take.
In 2023, Wales became the first country in the UK to reduce the speed limit from 30mph to a national default of 20mph on residential streets and in built-up areas, in a move that was widely criticised but was based on research that showed a 10mph reduction in speed could dramatically reduce injury and fatality rates amongst cyclists, pedestrians and other vulnerable road users in collision with motor traffic.
Last August, figures published on the Welsh government website showed that the number of police-recorded road collisions on 20 or 30mph roads in the first quarter of 2024 was the lowest quarterly figure ever recorded in Wales outside of the Covid period, with a Senedd spokesperson calling the initial collision statistics “encouraging” and saying that they suggest things “are moving in the right direction”.
Adwitiya joined road.cc in 2023 as a news writer after completing his masters in journalism from Cardiff University. His dissertation focused on active travel, which soon threw him into the deep end of covering everything related to the two-wheeled tool, and now cycling is as big a part of his life as guitars and football. He has previously covered local and national politics for Voice Cymru, and also likes to write about science, tech and the environment, if he can find the time. Living right next to the Taff trail in the Welsh capital, you can find him trying to tackle the brutal climbs in the valleys.
Latest Comments
- ROOTminus1 36 min 57 sec ago
Front page of the local rag, earlier in the week. How careless of the driver to let their car do that.
- chrisonabike 35 min 54 sec ago
Hmm... sounds like the usual "over-reaction due to previous under-reaction". (Think Waverley station here has also banned these?)...
- David9694 52 min ago
"Just a flesh wound" was expecting to be the. 94th person to post...
- Global Nomad 1 hour 5 min ago
Is the end a regular circle? I.e would establishing the size of any circular object on a new chainring give you the same info on a worn one? Seems so.
- Tom_77 1 hour 10 min ago
Not entirely clear from the video, but it looks like the cyclist has gone through the traffic lights just as they're changing to red, but the...
- Paul J 1 hour 16 min ago
I have the CatEye mounted on the seat stay. The CatEye angled mount means the light ends up pointing in right direction.
- Johnny Rags 2 hours 10 min ago
I'm on our local council and am always more than happy to argue in favour of pedestrianisation (which we're looking into) or charging for car...
- headingley 2 hours 10 min ago
Most Class "C" Drugs are, in fact, prescription drugs.....possession of them without a prescription (NHS or Private) is an offence - the offence is...
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23 comments
Not enough information on this case to make any meaningful comments but a couple of points. Roads aren't dangerous, some drivers are. If all drivers obeyed the highway code there wouldn't be a problem. The police can't be everywhere but dashcammers can and if the police could (would) take appropriate action on reports the problem would soon go away.
The driver stopped at the scene. Commendable in this day and age and very unusual due to the lenient attitude of the justice system towards hit and run drivers.
In the mean time I am fully supportive of reduced speed limits, providing they are enforced, even though it punishes careful drivers as well as the dangerous ones.
Surely the answer to this one is that it is not a place to overtake, both because of the major hazard hatching ("do not enter unless ESSENTIAL"), and the clear prohibition in the Highway Code:
167
DO NOT overtake where you might come into conflict with other road users. For example
approaching or at a road junction on either side of the road
A sticky plaster would be a turning island on that junction with high kerbs and bollards, which is straight into a 20mph limit.
A real solution is a 30mph limit and separated mobility tracks, plus a redesign to stop it being a short cut; it is a cut through, so that is merited.
I can't find anywhere where it says the minibus was going over 40mph or in fact reference to the speed it was going. I also can find anything about the bus driver being charged. Perhaps there are more to the circumstances of the incident that we know about?
Coroners report below, but don't forget a coroners job is just to confirm who, what, where, when & how. The accident investigations is down to the police and that's the report we really need to see before we make judgements.
https://www.judiciary.uk/prevention-of-future-death-reports/john-liddle-...
So it's down to how he was 'hit'...
helmet not mentioned as absent or present, so we must assume one was being worn and it was ineffective - if this were not the case there would be spiel about how helmets save lives.
Helmets 'can' save lives, this is the point, and should not 'assume' anything beyond confirmed facts and circumstances. Certainly did so for me in an airlifted RTA (car vs cycle) in which I suffered catastrophic spinal injuries and a brain haemorrhage. The brain and spinal surgeons could not have been clearer that had I not been wearing a quality helmet that day (Kask for the record), I would be dead from a direct head trauma or best case having daily protein/carbs drinks administered via a straw.
As to this poor man and his family, my heart goes out to them, and another reflection on how lucky I got that day.
They do save lives. Theres no ifs or buts about it. And no, they aren't a magic safety item that would allow a double decker to punch you in the head as you laugh it off. They will however help in more minor head contacts and potentially help turn quite serious ones into something survivable as the other commentor has experience with.
Do you have evidence to back up that assertion?
If I had £1 for every "helmet saved my life anecdote"...
Oh no - EC1V 3QJ!
Did you know that if you sail for long enough, you drop off the edge of the Earth?
It'll be OK as long as you're wearing a helmet, though.
I have found that the press are very quick to let us know that about the lack of helmet when there is a fatality and stubbornly quiet if one was being worn. Equally if the cyclist survives. This survival will be attributed to the wearing off a helmet. In this case the coroner doesn't appear to highlight the lack of helmet which would have been an obvious remark to make especially when the death was caused by blunt force trauma. Though being hit with 2 tonnes of metal at 40mph plus the chances of survival are pretty slim.
Lights --- Check!
Hi-Vis --- Check!
Invisible anyway --- Check!
Was the minibus driver overtaking the cyclist (ie. ran into him from behind) or was he overtaking another road user / oncoming vehicle (and ran into him head-on)?
Although clearly they didn't overtake, since surely a key part of overtaking is not driving through the party being overtaken.
"Attempted to overtake" would have been clearer, true.
Did 'overtake' just come from the Northern Echo article?
Also 'bend' seems to overstate, a gently curving road, as seen in the top image.
Is getting hit by a probably distracted driver of a motor vehicle at a notional 30mph that much better than 40mph? Clearly more likely survivable, but drivers should/must be looking where they're going, whatever the speed!
I assume the Coroner cannot reccomend the police to actually enforce motoring laws?
Kind of irrelevant no? The coroner cannot ask the Police to globally enforce all the traffic laws. Also there is no suggestion that the Minibus driver was breaking anything but Careless/Dangerous driving laws at that particular moment. There is no mention of the driver speeding - albeit this isnt his trial.
I feel a bit of a heel even suggesting this but there could be at least the possibility that the minibus driver was making a legitimate overtake and the cyclist pulled across to make their turn without signalling or properly shoulder checking? That would explain the apparent lack of prosecution.
Taking the photo as the scene in question, I'd say the junction and left hand bends were contraindications to overtaking. The right-turn filter 'lane' isn't wide enough to take a minibus, so to pass, giving the requisite space, the driver would have to be on the opposing lane, and clear of the cyclist, or at least able to move further over at the movement right of the cyclist. It's hard to fit the theory to the image.
I withdraw my question (and intend to re-read articles before posting in future…) <sound of wrist being slapped>
As mdavidford pedantically pointed out though, it was not an overtake but an overtake "attempt". Well - in reality it could have been "just drove right into them" but perhaps "I was carefully overtaking but the cyclist suddenly turned directly in front of my vehicle and I had not chance of avoiding them"?