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Broken bike (CC licensed image by garryknight, www.flickr.com)Cyclist hit by lorry died after five years in hospital
An inquest has heard how a cyclist hit by a lorry in November 2008 ultimately died in July 2013 having spent the intervening period in hospital. The Lincolnshire Echo reports how David Gillett was hit by a lorry driver who had allowed insufficient space when overtaking.
Spilsby Coroner's Court heard how Gillett, a refuse collector, would regularly ride his bike between his Great Hale home and Heckington station as part of his commute to Grantham. On November 3, 2008, he was hit by a lorry driven by John Pogson while riding on the A17.
Gillett was taken to Queen's Medical Centre where he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury which left him unable to talk or move. Later, in March 2009, he was transferred to the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disabilty in London for rehabilitation. However, he died there in July 2013 from bronchial pneumonia and traumatic brain injury at the age of 48.
Stuart Fisher, coroner for central Lincolnshire, said: "I believe there is a link between the collision and Mr Gillett's death five years later. He was a man to admire. He got up early and travelled to Grantham and it was on that journey that he was injured."
Pogson, who was driving a 7.5 tonne lorry, took full responsibility for the collision. He described hearing an “almighty bang” and said: "I accept that I misjudged the situation and that I drove too close to the cyclist ahead of me and as a result I collided with the bike causing that rider to fall off."
Earlier this year, Cycling Scotland’s road safety awareness campaign, Give Everyone Cycle Space, suggested that an arm's length was enough space when passing. Many were quick to criticise, suggesting that this is not enough.
Rule 163 of the Highway Code says that motorists “should give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car” and this is accompanied by an illustration of a motorist overtaking a man on a bike.
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.
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8 comments
Message and enforcement about phones is out there and it has done little, I'm not saying don't do it I'm just saying don't expect anything from enacting such a law.
enforcement shouldn't be the issue its about changing driver culture and expectations - live in Aus and Victoria doesn't have a minimum distance rule (the definition of safe is no collision) but Queensland does (1m and 1.5m on think 70km/hr plus roads). Recently introduced on a trial basis and the interesting thing that came out of the implementation was that many drivers had no idea how to deal with a passing a cyclist and hopefully and that is a big hope some of the points made in the not very pro cycling media about how to deal with those oh so difficult situations were braking may be required might sink into a few brains - I guess it is comparable with mobile phones - enforcement is lax but drivers know it is wrong
close passing no enforcement but message is out there close passing is wrong
Again nice idea but who will be there to measure it or much more importantly enforce a minimum distance law....I mean look how many people use mobile phones while in vehicles.
In northern Spain, on the road between Vielha and France, they've put up some new signs saying the passing distance should be a minimum of 1.5 metres, and they post the legislation (?) number next to it. I think it may be law. I'll see if I can get a picture.
Why can't we get a minimum safe passing distance defined? How hard would it be to state what too close is in meters? Is clarity too much to ask?
“should give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car”
The problem with the wording of this is that many drivers take it literally. When you pass another car in the right hand lane there may only be a foot or so of a gap and this is the gap some leave as they pass cyclists.
The lorry driver didn't just cause the cyclist to fall off, he fucking to his ability to live. What is the point of spending rest of your life in bed where you can't speak or move. You are just a marshmallow for people to feel sorry. Today lorry fully crumbled VW golf under its weight and the driver only got 350 fine. Amazingly the driver of Golf survived. The car was smashed into a thin layer of metal, so it doesn't take long to imagine what happens to cyclist...
The lorry driver didn't just cause the cyclist to fall off, he fucking to his ability to live. What is the point of spending rest of your life in bed where you can't speak or move. You are just a marshmallow for people to feel sorry. Today lorry fully crumbled VW golf under its weight and the driver only got 350 fine. Amazingly the driver of Golf survived. The car was smashed into a thin layer of metal, so it doesn't take long to imagine what happens to cyclist...