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Edinburgh cyclist seriously injured after being struck by van driver

The police are appealing for witnesses of the hit and run incident

Police are appealing for witnesses in a hit-and-run incident that left a 39-year-old woman seriously injured after being struck by a van driver in Edinburgh.

The woman was cycling on Old Dalkeith Road when she was hit by a vehicle at its junction with Walter Scott Avenue at around 11.35am on Saturday, 28th May 2022.

The driver of the vehicle did not stop at the scene; the vehicle is believed to be a small white van or similar.

Emergency services attended the cyclist and she was taken to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

Police Scotland are appealing for witnesses in order to trace the van and its driver.

Constable Gary Barkham from Edinburgh Road Policing, said: “We are asking for anyone who was in the area around the time of the crash, or anyone with information on the vehicle involved, to please get in touch. Any information could prove useful to our investigation.”

You can contact the police by calling 101, quoting incident 1468 of 28 May. Alternatively, you can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, if you wish to remain anonymous.

[Main image: Michael Curi/Flickr]

Suvi joined F-At in 2022, first writing for off-road.cc and then road.cc and ebiketips too until August 2024. She contributed to all of the sites covering tech news, features, reviews and women's cycling content. A lover of long-distance cycling, Suvi is easily convinced to join any rides and events that cover over 100km, and ideally, plenty of cake and coffee stops. 

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8 comments

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chrisonabike | 2 years ago
5 likes

Thoughts with the person injured.  Could have been a patient, hospital visitor, nurse...

road.cc wrote:

The woman was cycling on Old Dalkeith Road when she was hit by a vehicle at its junction with Walter Scott Road

Do they mean "Walter Scott Avenue"?  If so the junction is here on Streetview.

For those not local this is a busy road.  Important access (to the main hospital).  Even though cycle lanes were installed and more recently part-protected (covid-era) it's not a pleasant cycling environment.  Average speed cameras have been fitted - which tells you something.  Plenty buses (because hospital), traffic at all hours (ditto).  It is "narrow" in the sense that the lanes of traffic are just bus-sized and no more.  Pedestrian refuges - needed - act to push vehicles towards you.  The cycle lane protection - if still there - only appears on the "uphill" side of the road and is frequently interrupted by bus stops, side road access and at pedestrian refuges.  If there it'd be on the opposite side to Walter Scott Avenue.

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chrisonabike replied to chrisonabike | 2 years ago
0 likes

Looking left (north) from Walter Scott Ave - Google shows the lane protection (March 2021) and also gives an idea of the road width.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to chrisonabike | 2 years ago
0 likes

I wouldn't be surprised if it was either a left hook or a pull out of the junction when cyclist hadn't cleared it. 

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joe9090 replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
0 likes

Pure speculation...

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mdavidford replied to joe9090 | 2 years ago
2 likes

They can't know whether they'd be surprised or not?

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to joe9090 | 2 years ago
0 likes

is that not allowed? My speculation, which i didn't claim to be anything but, was based on looking at the junction with its crappy murder strip encouraging cyclists to be riding right next to it rather then wider to be safer. 

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Secret_squirrel replied to chrisonabike | 2 years ago
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Unless the streetview camera is distorting the image it looks total insanity to try to cram 2 bike lanes down that road.  (I'm assuming that bit on the far left is a murder strip style bike lane.)

Yet plenty of green verge on one side that could have been co-opted.

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chrisonabike replied to Secret_squirrel | 2 years ago
0 likes

I had a look at this a year back and the short answer is that there's potential but it would likely involve *lots* of money and negotiation.  Simply following the main road (doing this properly) isn't likely to happen.  The usable width (between outer edges of footway) is in places pretty tight.  Buildings on one side, up against the road, old wall on the other (with steep bank behind).

I should say that there *is* currently a route you can work to the hospital from town which is largely off-road.  (Innocent railway path / Craigmillar Castle Road paths).  I'm not sure it's signed as a route to the hospital, it's slightly indirect (about half a mile more from town) but it's not "convenient" - a fair bit of navigation, you have to get onto roads, off, cross them etc.  Also you're up a hill (170ft of ascent).  Other routes have both less climbing and are less steep.

Wider view - any way you go about it it's going to involve wiggling about and might need you to cross the Old Dalkeith Road. To the west there's a park (Inch Park) for part of it then a housing estate, but going that way puts you quite a bit out of the way and you'd need to cross Dalkeith Road.  The east side initially looks a better bet - there's Craigmillar Castle park most of the way.  However the North end is constricted (a car salesroom!) and it's lumpy and also would need wide detours - effectively pushing you back almost as far as the existing "alternative" route above.

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