Cyclist killed after failing to see parked car, inquest hears

AlsoSomniloquism wrote:

My brother did it years ago when he was in his early teens. Apparently he was cycling up a small hill towards the parked car, glanced over his shoulder to make sure it was clear before he pulled around it and just went straight into the back of it. He walked in the house pouring blood from multiple cuts on his face.  I don't think he even had a drop bar bike then but can't remember. 

Not his first time either as my parents used to regale the story of him coming down then hill next to a holiday caravan that cars of the day stuggled up. They heard a thump on the side of the caravan and he spent the weeks holidays in the hospital with my mum having to be by his side. He was four or five at the time.  

My older brother did a similar trick and ended up in hospital with superficial injuries. He was on a training ride, had his head down and didn't spot that there was a parked car in the wrong place (e.g. double yellows - don't know specifics).

Rick_Rude wrote:

Likely cause is he just fucked up. It happens. Cyclists aren't infallible.  

Sadly true.

I have in the past crashed into a parked car, even worse I've done it twice. Don't ask me how I missed them, I have no idea, except I was tired and trudging up hill in both cases, so I guess my brain just made a priority call, and keeping going was deemed more important than looking where I was going, no idea really.

Condolences to the family though, I was lucky and just broke a lever and bruised my ego

Rick_Rude wrote:

Likely cause is he just fucked up. It happens. Cyclists aren't infallible.  

Of course, but dismissing other possible outcomes does no-one any favours, not being able to see a large stationary object simply due to wearing a peaked cap is also extremely unlikely though it can happen. The given statement by the investigating officer doesn't consider other options and solely focuses on the one supposed obvious one, this happens all the time because the nvestigators have little or zero experience or understanding of why these things can occur.

CyclingInBeastMode wrote:

Rick_Rude wrote:

Likely cause is he just fucked up. It happens. Cyclists aren't infallible.  

Of course, but dismissing other possible outcomes does no-one any favours, not being able to see a large stationary object simply due to wearing a peaked cap is also extremely unlikely though it can happen. The given statement by the investigating officer doesn't consider other options and solely focuses on the one supposed obvious one, this happens all the time because the nvestigators have little or zero experience or understanding of why these things can occur.

But how does your wild speculation help? Your earlier post suggested their might have been gusty winds or potholes that caused him to swerve. Do you really think that if the wind was howling, or if there were some really bad potholes just before the parked car the inquest wouldn’t have heard such evidence from the investigating officer? And do you think he swerved towards the parked car at the last minute or attempted to swerve away from it when he saw it?

Why do you think the investigation is ‘just dismissing other possible outcomes’ (by which I assume you mean other possible causes)? Or do you think they have heard all the evidence and come to the likely conclusion that he just wasn’t looking where he was going, or his baseball cap may have contributed to a limited view of the road ahead, and then he simply couldn’t avoid the collision despite his last ditch attempt to swerve?

What exactly do you think is missing in this jigsaw? It seems fairly straightforward to me and unfortunately is not uncommon - CTT have warning signs stating that head down cycling kills when you sign on for a TT to remind riders of the risks after several such deaths in events (admittedly there is more chance when riding in a TT position).

PP

lllnorrislll wrote:

Condolences to the family Looking at street map, I see it's the usual broken white line cycle lane, junction, parking bay taking half width of road, broken white lane cycle lane on a 'A' road scenario. But hey it must have been his baseball cap.

In all honesty, if it's a road with clear lines of sight, and he failed to spot a parked car until he was only a metre or so from it, it was either the baseball cap he was wearing obscured his vision, or he simply wasn't looking.

StuInNorway wrote:

lllnorrislll wrote:

Condolences to the family Looking at street map, I see it's the usual broken white line cycle lane, junction, parking bay taking half width of road, broken white lane cycle lane on a 'A' road scenario. But hey it must have been his baseball cap.

In all honesty, if it's a road with clear lines of sight, and he failed to spot a parked car until he was only a metre or so from it, it was either the baseball cap he was wearing obscured his vision, or he simply wasn't looking.

OR he was distracted by something/someone, was it windy, in which case could have been caught by the wind and veered, was there a pothole just previous to the incident spot that he didn't see until too late and swerved too much losing control, even a bird flying right across your face can make you swerve violently and/or lose control attention.

Your basic two option answer does not, just like the enquiry actually understand all the possible reasons as to why the event could have occured.

CyclingInBeastMode wrote:

StuInNorway wrote:

lllnorrislll wrote:

Condolences to the family Looking at street map, I see it's the usual broken white line cycle lane, junction, parking bay taking half width of road, broken white lane cycle lane on a 'A' road scenario. But hey it must have been his baseball cap.

In all honesty, if it's a road with clear lines of sight, and he failed to spot a parked car until he was only a metre or so from it, it was either the baseball cap he was wearing obscured his vision, or he simply wasn't looking.

OR he was distracted by something/someone, was it windy, in which case could have been caught by the wind and veered, was there a pothole just previous to the incident spot that he didn't see until too late and swerved too much losing control, even a bird flying right across your face can make you swerve violently and/or lose control attention.

Your basic two option answer does not, just like the enquiry actually understand all the possible reasons as to why the event could have occured.

CCTV showed Mr Marron trying to swerve away from the BMW parked on Holgate Road when he was a metre away from it but he was unable to avoid crashing into the rear windscreen.
No mention of him trying to avoid anything else and losing control, simply "trying to swerve a metre before the car" . . if it was windy enough to affect his line, surely he'd have moved out earlier. The CCTV clearly indicated (as the court found to be the case) that for whatever reason he hadn't seen the car until it was too late.