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Ghost Bike (CC licensed image by marcus_jb1973:Flickr)Cyclist killed in Whitechapel in November had almost twice driving blood alcohol limit
One of the cyclists who died during last November’s spate of fatal collisions had almost twice the legal driving limit of blood alcohol when he rode in front of a bus, the inquest into his death heard yesterday.
Khalid al-Hashimi was riding back to St John’s Wood after celebrating his 21st birthday with friends in Whitechapel on November 13.
He was hit by a 205 double decker bus at about 11.30pm after riding the wrong way up Leman Street, a one-way street leading to Whitechapel High Street, reports the Evening Standard’s Ross Lydall.
CCTV video from the bus showed that Mr al-Hashimi appeared suddenly 10m in front of it, and driver David Brennan had no chance to avoid the cyclist.
Poplar coroner’s court heard that the post-mortem examination revealed Mr al-Hashimi to have 154 milligrams of ethanol per 100 millilitres of blood. The driving limit is 80 milligrams.
Collision investigator PC Andrew Smith said Mr al-Hashimi may have been confused by a wrongly-angled red light in the centre of Whitechapel High Street used by traffic turning right into Commercial Street.
Coroner Mary Hassall asked if it would have made any difference if Mr al-Hashimi had been wearing a helmet.
Pathologist Dr Chin Along said: “I don’t think so. Bicycle helmets, the way they are designed, are not for velocity injuries.”
Ms Hassell recorded that Mr al-Hashimi died as a result of road traffic collision. She said: “It may be that Mr al-Hashimi saw the cars stationary and saw the red light and thought the cars were being held at the red light, and thought it was safe to cross.
“But nevertheless this wasn’t a pedestrian crossing and he [the bus driver] didn’t stop, and that is why the collision occurred, I’m very sorry to say.”
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
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35 comments
Being ignorant: all three.
Cycling drunk: strike one. Cycling contra-flow: strike two. Not seeing/avoiding an oncoming bus: strike three. How much **** can you ask for and still hope to get away with it?
Hmmm, though the last photo on this page
http://www.visionzerolondon.org/2014/04/victim-blaming-again-and-again.html
Does give a clue as to why the guy failed to spot the oncoming bus.
Who decided to put that advertising stand there? Seems rather a stupid place to put it. I thought pavements were for walking on, not for advertising on?
Are you sure you aren't just another reactionary like all the rest talking about nothing they know little about...
I couldn't give a toss about "gaining the respect" of people i have nothing in common with, what a funny thing to want.
Back in 1998 or 99 I went out drinking and cycled the 4 mikes home, and clipped a wooden post on a cycle path and fell off, sustaining a few cuts and bruises. Luckily my lovely XT equipped Kawasaki green Specialised FSR survived unscathed.
I must have been pretty seriously munted that night - the following morning I was sitting in the bath and threw up in it.
At the time I put it down to the folly of youth, and in quieter and more contemplative moments perhaps attributed the drinking to an attempt to anaesthetise the still raw pain of a traumatic relationship breakup and significant family problems earlier on.
In retrospect it's clear that unsafe infrastructure was entirely to blame - yes, I was horribly pissed, and yes, I rode that cycle path every day and knew pretty much every bump and ripple on it, and indeed swerved past the same wooden post daily, and yes, it was dark, although I had lights, but I now see that all of that is irrelevant. If the post wasn't there, I'd not have fallen off and wouldn't have this little anecdote today.
Yes, lets say instead of you not having that nice off road path (with that evil post), but an inhospitable street which you shared with buses and cabs, what would have happened to you then?
Woah, what happened to the Northstar who could start an argument in an empty room?
You must be getting old mate
Hah, you mean start a "argument" with fuckwits perhaps.... ; )
You'll never stop all the people shuffling off this mortal coil in stupid ways. I'm sure in this case the hubris of youth had something to do with it, as I'm sure the alcohol fizzing in his veins did too. If you did find a way to smother us all in cotton wool you'd find this a very dull place to live. Part of the joy in life is having a choice to pit yourself against the vagaries of life.
Not sure why people cannot accept rider error in this case (and in others). But I'm really beyond caring.
And finally.....not that I've never ridden the wrong way up a one-way street, but it's not advisable or legal....end of.
Is Leman Street a 30 limit?
Not excusing the cyclist's pissed-ness (but hey, we've all done it) but as it says above, he appeared 10m in front of the bus - not enough time to scrub off sufficient speed to reduce the severity of the collision? I wonder if he had lights?
But, at nearly twice the drink driving limit I'm afraid he himself has engineered his downfall.
I would actually, as like everyone i am a pedestrian and a lot of the pavements I've walked on leave A LOT to be desired (if they exist at all on some public highways).
Put it into context.
Had it been a pedestrian staggering out into the street "the wrong way", you wouldn't be calling for better pavements, you'd say it was a great shame, tragic accident etc.
Had it been a driver doing the same, you'd more or less be saying he deserved it, how dare he drive while pissed, it served him right etc.
Only on here could a tragic death descend into the rights and wrongs of riding the wrong way up a one way street or arguing if the signage was to blame. Another reason for closing the comments on stories involving a death.
Hint: pissed people don't always notice or obey signs or make rational judgements about their actions.
Actually, I might. Depending entirely on the context. The pavement might be too narrow or have parking bays on it, and the speed limit might be too high for a residential street. Or it might be a road that shouldn't have car traffic on it at all.
Pedestrians shouldn't be punished with death for minor mistakes any more than cyclists should.
Regardless of who makes the mistake, its all ultimately down to the presence of motorised vehicles, which is why we ought to do more to minimise that presence in areas where people tend to be.
A driver doing the same is of course a totally different thing, because they endanger others when drunk, not just themselves. That's why we have a blood-alcohol limit for them and not for pedestrians or even cyclists. So I don't know why you bring that in.
Edit - I don't have any particular opinion on this particular case (other than its a very sad event, obviously).
If it's a traffic offence why did the aforementioned police officer not react at all when i was doing it?
Same reason they ignore people riding on the pavement. They either can't be arsed or don't know the laws they're meant to impose.
Riding the wrong way up a one way street = a choppers trick.
But they do not ignore people riding on the pavement, it's their biggest income ; )
Riding in both ways is not dangerous, go and do it and if you are smart enough, you will live to tell the tale, next?
same reason they they ignore people driving at 80mph on a motorway.
can't be bothered
looking for bigger fish to fry
just about to knock off
just decided he needs the toilet and soon
actually involved in looking for something else at the time
who knows?
the copper failing to react should not be taken as a definitive legal opinion.
I'm not saying it is, but you and I both know they have got better things to do than worry about silly things like this, maybe that's why contraflow lanes are being put in (all over london anyway).
It's so irrelevant it didn't even come up with a very long conversation i had with a inspector about riding in general, he was more concerned with pavement riders.
No it isn't, it's perfectly safe, next?
err
1 It's a traffic offence. See my other post.
2 It is common practice in many countries. I think it could be adopted here. It's not intrinsically unsafe as a concept. But it is bloody unsafe if other road users aren't expecting you to be doing it. cos it's a traffic offence.
If it were legal and drivers were aware it might happen and were expecting then it would be safe.
You and I both know there is no such legislation but having ridden the "wrong way" up a quiet residential street in front of a police officer i can assure you nothing will come of adjusting the wording.
Look I normally get irritated when excuses are made for errant motorists.
I feel sorry for the guy's family but he took a vehicle on the road whilst he was pissed. Not a little bit tipsy. But nearly twice over the limit.
In this case apart from his family I also feel sorry for the bus driver. How many nights does he have that picture in his head.
I happen tyo think that cycling is pretty safe if you pay attention. Being twice over the limit makes it a lot more dangerous.
Just being a cyclist should not get you a free pass on justified criticism.
"He was hit by a 205 double decker bus at about 11.30pm after riding the wrong way up Leman Street"
I expect this of the the trash that is the ES but a cycling website using the "wrong way" when no such thing exists for riders...
An inquest isn't concerned with just the letter of the law, it will report and make recommendations on the grounds of safety. Riding towards a bus on a one way street is obviously not a safe thing to do.
Err... up a one-way street, even not relevant to cyclists (isn't it? I'm not sure) is still worth a Darwin Award.
It does exist for riders. It's a general rule. The legal stuff is long winded but just because there is no specific offence doesn't mean its legal.
If you want chapter and verse it's here
http://ukcyclerules.com/2011/08/09/cycling-one-way-streets/
You sure you read the article? The actual quote is "He was hit by a 205 double decker bus at about 11.30pm riding the wrong way up Leman Street, A ONE-WAY STREET leading to Whitechapel High Street".
In order to be given equal respect, cyclists need to follow the same vehicular laws as everyone else. My sympathies for the deceased, his family and the bus driver but am not surprised at the result of cycling drunk against the traffic flow.
You had to go and spoil an otherwise reasonable comment by putting in the nonsense about 'respect'!
This poor fellow made a bad decision while under the influence, and died as a result. Maybe better road and traffic design might have saved him from the worst consequences of that error, maybe not - maybe it was just down to inevitable human imperfections and would have happened even in a place with an ideal transport policy (I don't feel inclined to study the incident in detail).
Fictional hive-mind cyclist collectives 'earning respect' really has nothing to do with it.
proper infrastructure would have kept him safely away from that bus... there is NO excuse...
I doubt it - he was drunk and most likely wouldn't have found a segregated cycle lane. If you can't see the road properly, stay off it - walking, cycling or driving. Get a cab.
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