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news
White cycle helmetSelfie cyclist died from heart attack linked to head injury
A woman who died falling from her bicycle seconds after taking a selfie suffered a heart attack as a rare complication of a head injury, a court has heard.
New Zealand born Carmen Greenway was cycling home from a pub in west London last August with her mother Sherry Bennett and two friends when her bike hit a “rough” patch in the road.
The mother of two had drunk two cocktails and four glasses of wine.
Her husband, Rufus, said: “She’d been taking selfies and had one hand on the bars. It was bumpy and she just jack-knifed the bars, threw herself off the bike and fractured her skull. It wasn’t the cycling that killed her, it was a tragic mistake. She was close to home, relaxed and having a lovely time.”
As we reported at the time, she was rushed to intensive care at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington where she died six days later after going into cardiac arrest. Her funeral was held last month.
Southwark Coroner’s Court was told her head injury caused her to suffer an epileptic seizure and heart attack in hospital.
Coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe said: "A CT scan confirmed the injuries. She had two fractures and significant contusion and bruising to the right side, affecting the temporal and frontal lobe.”
As reported by Stuff, she added: "At the end of the day we have to come down to the view that the death of Carmen Greenway was as a result of a tragic accident.
"The fact that she sustained a fall from her bike on August 18, that it caused a brain injury and she has suffered a complication, a very rare complication, of that injury, which is an epileptic seizure.”
Her husband has repeatedly made the point that had she been wearing a helmet, Carmen might have survived the fall.
Rufus said: "She had been taking some selfies on the main road, she did that regularly. She was not taking it at the moment of the accident.
"She was 100 metres from our house, one hand on the bars, quite relaxed, and probably had had a drink.
"She cycled that way every weekend and perhaps it was familiarity breeding contempt.
"It's unfortunately an unfortunate accident. If she was wearing a helmet she would still be alive."
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43 comments
Obviously a textbook of what not to do on a bike but of course who can say they've never done anything silly and dangerous before that they wish they could press the replay button on? Yep... a tragic accident indeed. Sorry to the family on their loss.
Think there needs to be a campaign to stop taking pointless selfies
Sorry for his loss, but if she'd walked off a cliff taking a selfie. It would have be death by misadventure.
I can really feel the loss that her loved ones face, but I am not very sure that there are many drunk selfies taking cyclists who wear helmet. But yes, her life could have been saved had she been wearing a helmet.
So the lesson is - if you must drink and drive whilst endulging in phone use - wear a helmet.
If she had been in a car driving home from the pub, she wouldn't have come off her bike and, perhaps, wouldn't have needed a helmet. Of course she could have still stumbled before getting in or after getting out of the car, so maybe a helmet isn't a bad idea.
had she been wearing a helmet she wouldn't have been taking selfies - the argument is perfectly circular!
Sorry for your loss, he says a helmet may have saved her life, it may have. It doesn't say he's campaigning or similar for helmets in any way in this article which may be a good thing, let her go and be at peace with the world.
He isn't but others are and it would be naive to think they won't use his comments.
Better by far not to fall off than to fall off wearing a helmet.
Yes, but if you are going to fall off whilst travelling slowly, far better to do it with a helmet on than without.
Just in case that seems callous, I should point out that I have nothing but sympathy for the people - I have met too many of them - who have been so traumatically bereaved.
Sometimes victim families can campaign hard for moves which do take us forward toa decent and civilised aproach to the danger leading to road deaths and injuries.
Someimes I worry that their focus takes us up blind alleys.
I would advocate that anybody who has lost a loved one in a road crash contacts the excellent national road crash victims' charity RoadPeace
http://www.road-peace.org.uk and that the rest of us donate to support its work.
RIP sister.
One day it'll all make sense. You have my sympathies.
My experience of people whose loved ones have died in road crashes is that , as human beings with desperate psychological needs for an answer, they often want to focus on a simplistic "solution" to how their loved one died.
Not (a) consuming alcohol or (b) using one hand to steer on a bumpy off-road track. Nor the recognition that there was a very rare complication.
No, once again it is the big red herring of our times.
But like so many things that appear simple, I believe it is simplistic and doesn't really take us forward.
All very sad. I suppose it's perfectly natural for a grieving husband to want to blame the cause of his wife's death on something she didn't choose to do, rather than something she actually did.
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