“Shared-use path” signs to be put up after pedestrian’s “resentment” towards cyclist using pavement led to manslaughter

Several changes are being planned for cycle paths in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, including putting up signs indicating “shared-use path” and updating the town's cycle maps, after a 77-year-old cyclist was killed by a pedestrian angered by her “presence” on the pavement.

Cambridgeshire County Council is seeking funding for the improvements on Walden Road, Castle Moat Road and Hartford Road, along the ring-road, including putting up more signs to indicate that the path is for shared use by pedestrians and cyclists alike.

Updated cycle maps would also be published on the council’s website. Printed versions of the maps would also be distributed locally to libraries, community centres and bike shops, reports Cambridgeshire Live.

The council also said there would be longer-term plans, including a review of the status of the whole ring road and links to the cycle network in Huntingdon through to the city centre.

Auriol Grey, aged 49, was sentenced to three years in prison, for aggressively confronting Celia Ward, a 77-year-old cyclist who was riding on the pavement, causing her to be killed after she fell into the path of an oncoming vehicle.

> Remove conflict between cyclists and pedestrians, urge campaigners in wake of manslaughter case

At the hearing at Peterborough Crown Court last month, there was some confusion as to whether the path was a pavement or a shared footpath and cycling route, with the Cambridgeshire Constabulary unable to “categorically” ascertain whether Mrs Ward had been cycling on a shared use path.

While the council said it had never been signed as shared use and did not appear on bike maps as a cycle route, the judge later concluded in his sentencing remarks that it was a shared facility. The judge also told her she was “territorial about the pavement" and “resented” the presence of the cyclist.

CCTV footage shared by the Constabulary showed Grey, who has cerebral palsy and is partially sighted, shouting at Mrs Ward, described by her widower as an “experienced and competent cyclist,” to “get off the f*ck*ng pavement.”

Grey left the scene before the arrival of the emergency services and went to a supermarket to do her shopping. She was arrested the next day, and claimed that Mrs Ward had been cycling “at high speed” and that she was “anxious I was going to get hit by it,” so “flinched out” with her left arm to protect herself.”

> “Hostile and aggressive” pedestrian found guilty of killing 77-year-old cyclist in pavement cycling dispute

The case had drawn national attention after an article in the Spectator was published claiming that cyclists have “been given licence to ride on the pavement”. However, it was lambasted by cyclists as “ill-informed”, “barely-disguised hatred” and “using such a tragic offence to seed hatred against cyclists”.

One person on social media wrote: “Reading this article, it's hard to believe someone died as a result. What a terrible take and a disgusting piece.”

Cycling and disability rights campaign groups also reacted to the incident, urging for highways authorities to remove conflict between cyclists and pedestrians.

Camcycle, the cycling campaign group for Cambridgeshire and the UK’s largest cycling campaign group outside London, said that action was urgently needed in locations where there is “unnecessary conflict” between cyclists and pedestrians if Vision Zero targets are to be met.

It said after the sentencing: “It highlights a situation in which people walking and cycling were placed in unnecessary conflict next to a busy road of fast-moving motor vehicles. Cambridgeshire County Council has committed to reducing the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads to zero by 2040, but reports published this week show that it is not currently on target to meet this goal.”