Time trialist dies...

[downfader]

Found out about this on the CTC site: http://www.timetriallingforum.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=48872

http://www.wmas.nhs.uk/news/news_archive/august_2010/road_cyclist_dies.aspx

Apparently its a case of "poor driver" and cyclists were getting in the way. What about the poor girl left dead because some idiot cant understand what safe and proper stopping distances are.

 

[Globalti]

Terrible. My reading of the second report is that the numbers of cyclists at the scene confused the Ambulance Service into thinking they had another mass accident on their hands.

 

[JamesMorgan]

Tragic waste of life. I know the area well. It is a very high speed roundabout. Traffic approaching from the A46 will regularly be approaching in excess of 70mph. Personally I wouldn't like to be turning right on that roundabout. Don't get me wrong - doesn't excuse what the driver has done at all, but I do wonder whether some greater consideration should be put into the safety of some time-trial routes.

 

[spen666]

Nothing wrong with that statement from the West Midlands Ambulance Service at all. It is factual and to the point. It does not given any opinion on cyclists at all.

I should declare an interest. I work for the NHS and used to work in the Communications Directorate where such statements would be drafted.

+1


Nothing in post that blames anyone.

Its a neutral statement for legal reasons

 

[sarahpink]

do they not have marshals at the time trial? the one I did has some people at one end stopping cars to let the cyclists turn around. its so sad to hear of cyclists dying when cars should be more careful.

 

[spen666]

do they not have marshals at the time trial? the one I did has some people at one end stopping cars to let the cyclists turn around. its so sad to hear of cyclists dying when cars should be more careful.

Marshalls have no power to stop the traffic

 

[e-rider]

RIP Cath.

She was hit from behind so marshalls have nothing to do with it.

 

[wafflycat]

TT marshalls have no power to control traffic, they are not 'authorised' by police. They are simply club members who act in the capacity of standing at junctions to point out course directions to riders taking part in the time trial. Indeed police don't have to authorise a TT for the TT to take place, as a TT isn't a race. The only time they do is if the TT organiser hasn't done the requisite notification of the event taking place in the required time.

 

[spen666]

They may have. The law was changed a few years ago to allow marshalls to be 'authorised' by the local police. It is an offence to fail to comply with a direction given by an authorised marshall.

The problem has been that many police forces aren't aware of the change in the law - or are reluctant to authorise marshalls. Partly, this may be to do with a potential loss of revenue for the police, who can 'recover costs' from organisers if they supply officers for events.

I am aware of that, but those marshalling club TTs are unlikely to be authorised. It is exceedingly rare that anyone has been given these powers

 

[Smokin Joe]

As far as I know, the only marshalls allowed to stop traffic are members of the Motorcycle Escort Group who are operating in areas where there is an experiment with giving them "lollipop powers", Essex I believe being one. Static marshalls do not have any.

 

[byegad]

Many years ago I witnessed a very near miss on the A1 at Dishforth. A TT was taking place, we'd see several riders hugging the gutter on the Dual Carriageway as we headed South. Just after the Airfield a lorry overtook a car towing a caravan the caravan started to swing behind the car presumably due to the blast from the lorry as it passed and came within inches of taking out a TTer.

While it was perfectly legal to ride a bike on the A1 in the 1970s you couldn't have paid me enough to do it. The road was narrow for a Dual Carriageway, the traffic heavy and fast, in fact it was used as if it was a Motorway, which these days it is.

I'm not convinced that the routes picked for these events are safe enough for racing, lets not kid ourselves here a TT is a race, that's why you see at least one in the Tour de France. I sympathise with those keen to participate and it's a tragedy that yet again someone has been killed, however the organisers of thee events need a radical rethink on routing. Perhaps they have become less aware of the risk on some of them where traffic has gradually increased in numbers and speed over the years these routes have been in use.

 

[wafflycat]

Sigh...

Legally, a time trial is NOT a race.

The reality is it's actually very safe overall.

The reality is that each and every course used has to be risk assessed and a major part of that includes several traffic counts. If a route fails the count, it is dropped from use: it has to be.

There are *thousands* of people taking part in time trials taking place all over the UK, each and every year, every pretty much every weekend from March to October, then all the mid-week club events, with very few injuries and even fewer fatalities.

 

[Will1985]

Marshalls at time trials absolutely must not stop traffic - contravention of Regulation 20 should be reported to CTT. Name and shame organising club and course code.

 

[Headgardener]

Marshalls at time trials absolutely must not stop traffic - contravention of Regulation 20 should be reported to CTT. Name and shame organising club and course code.

Can they not though make the traffic aware of cyclists being on the road?

 

[ComedyPilot]

How, in broad daylight, can a car driver NOT SEE a cyclist?

Next time you drive a car, bike, van, truck etc, ask yourself the following question: Can I safely bring my vehicle to a halt in the distance I can see to be clear?

If the answer is no, then you are driving too fast/without due care & attention/dangerous driving.

I am still dumstruck as to how a vehicle can plough into a vulnerable road-user? it's not as if the road suffers from local bad visibility like trees etc?

Location

[Edit: my link shows the location of the incident, move the Google man around to get a more balanced view of the road layout]