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Coroner says tram tracks led to death of cyclist in Croydon

Tracks caused Roger de Klerk to fall in front of bus, inquest finds

The coroner at the inquest into the November 2013 death of cyclist Roger de Klerk has said she is “in do doubt whatsoever” that becoming tangled in tram lines led to his death.

The inquest heard that de Clerk fell moments before being hit by a bus at the junction of Cherry Orchard Road and Addiscombe Road on November 12 last year, according to the Croydon Advertiser.

Recording a finding that the 43-year-old IT entrepreneur had died as a result of a road traffic collision, South London Coroner Selena Lynch today said she will to write to Croydon Council's highways department to ask that they “urgently” look at the provision for cyclists at the junction, and on the tram system in Croydon as a whole.

“The wheels of his bike came into contact with the tram lines, causing him to lose control and fall on his right hand side into the path of a bus. The bus driver had no time to take avoiding action or to stop," Lynch said.

CCTV footage from the bus and a nearby tram showed de Klerk falling when he moved off to turn right after both he and the bus stopped at traffic lights.

The driver of the bus, Laura Leonard, told the court: "I saw him at the lights, he was waiting at the lights to the left in front of the bus. As the traffic moved off I checked the van in front had gone and I turned to look and the cyclist had gone, then I moved off. There was no cyclist in view until I saw him fall.

"I was moving from the traffic lights, so I couldn't say exactly the speed I was going, but perhaps around 10 miles per hour.

"I felt something, but I was hoping really it was just the bike. I can't really say much more, because it still upsets me now, thinking about his family."

Bus passenger Anastasia Maison said she heard a "crunch" as the bus hit de Klerk.

"When he fell, I remember screaming at him falling, then we heard the sound and everyone on the bus started screaming. The bus wasn’t moving fast.”

Roger de Klerk was aboard a road bike he had bought just a week before the fatal collision. The inquest was told that the wheels were narrower than the grooves of the tram tracks, so it was possible the bike had got stuck as he crossed at a shallow angle.

De Klerk’s mother, Anna De Klerk said he had phoned her the morning before his death.

“He told me he was going to Croydon to get his mobile phone repaired at a shop near East Croydon station, as far as I’m aware, the day of the accident was the first time he had cycled there."

The coroner said the junction had a "confusing" layout and there appeared to be "a lack of provision" for cyclists.

Lynch said: “The need to keep cyclists away from danger is ever-present. We hear talk about lorries, but it seems to me that tram lines may also be a problem for them, particularly for those not used to cycling where there are tram lines.”

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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17 comments

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A V Lowe | 9 years ago
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The MASSIVE disappointment here is that the clear professionals for impartial and objective investigation of incidents involving rail systems were not involved in the investigation.

There are 3 very distinct ways in which you will lose control of a bike when crossing a rail obliquely.

1) the angle is so shallow that your wheel drops into the flangeway groove - unlikely in this case as the cyclist was local and experienced, and would have been riding to avoid this.

2) sliding along the rail surface. This generally occurs when the rail surface is above the level of the abutting road surface, sufficiently to lift the tyre contact patch clear of the higher friction road surfaces , when there is a side thrust (ie turning a corner) on the contact patch. The result was clearly a proven issue in the case of Roe vs Sheffield Supertram & others where eventually a driver secured substantial damages fro life-changing injuries recieved when his car crashed after all wheels were lifted clear of the road surface by rails sitting well over the specified limit above the road surface. Sheffield now has a regular inspection regime to ensure that rails are never more than 3mm higher than abutting road surfaces. This is also less likely as again the rider was local and experienced

3) hitting a vertical discrepancy obliquely. Simply the same effect as striking a dropped kerb at a shallow angle. The upper eged of the 'step' forms a pivot point for the forces of the rider and bike acting against the reaction through the contact patch. Extensive testing of the tram line tactile paving (HUGE clue there) used on cycle routes took place at TRL just over 20 years ago paid for by DETR (now DfT) and guess what - all that detail has been lost! However it is preserved in the dimensions set for the tactile paving, and other road surface features - a maximum of 5-6mm is the limit for vertical ridges at dropped kerbs, tactile tramlines, level crossings etc, and for the slippery metal of street manhole covers, and slippery thermoplastic road markings its 3mm. Now go and find some compliant infrastructure! Photos taken at the site after the crash show how tarmac has sunk or extruced under the weight of motor traffic, turning - often exceeding 25mm in places, with a section of the tarmac abutting the rail not far from the site of the fatal crash, recently patched up.

Of course these hazards would be greatly reduced if the rails were crossed square-on, and a fundamantly detail at this junction is the S curve that the Southbound traffic from Cherry Orchard Road has to make to provide the space for a pedestrian island - on which pedestrians are (in theory) marooned to facilitate the traffic signal sequence whcih avoids delaying trams and vehicles using the carriageway The island goes nowhere - it is only used to corral pedestrian traffic. Without that island the traffic would cross the rails at an angle AND without turning, which would eliminate the potential for cyclists losing control through every one of those 3 factors.

This had the Coroner sought a rule 43 (prevention of future deaths) report, or the crash been meticulously investigated (perhaps by RAIB, or HSC - who both have an interest in investigating incidents on a tram system) with the factors noted we might have seen a change in how the findings of this inquest were presented*.

* An RAIB report would have given clear recommendations, which would probably include removing the pedestrian island and delivering a revised junction design, plus dealing with the road surface issues - which are I suspect due to the lack of design experience in the original specifications for the on-street track which is currently requiring major renewals and repair as rails move and tarmac rises, sinks and breaks away in chunks.

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antigee | 9 years ago
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Jeez, anyone who rides on roads with tram lines and keeps getting thrown off by the tracks is a bit dim.
Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Gothenburg... they all seem to manage pretty well

Live in Melbourne, Aus and despite being a bit dim manage OK - because the tramlines almost always run in the centre of the roads away from cyclists and junctions are at right angles so plenty of space to cross tracks at right angles. Which I believe is also true of at least Amsterdam and Gothenburg.

- Used to live in Sheffield and had to regularly use Middlewood Rd, Langsett RD and Holmes Lane - all with parallel tram tracks in the lane which cyclists use and any obstruction (eg car reverse parking, delivery truck, vehicle nosed out of junction) meant you needed to very rapidly assess braking distance or find enough room to cross tracks obliquely - usually into traffic, if it didn't challenge my intellect it certainly required experience of spotting dangers and how and when to take the lane beyond that normally required. Alternative routes aren't always easy to find.

Of course there is always Edinburgh Council's solution - with the punchline at the end:

Advice for cyclists
Cross the tracks close to a right angle. This won’t always be possible, but by crossing as close to a right angle as you can you’ll avoid slipping on the tracks.

Mind the gap. Keep your wheels out of the tram tracks, especially when overtaking other vehicles or turning at junctions.

Take care when cycling in the rain, the tracks will be slippery.

Think ahead and signal early. Plan how you will cross the tracks and let other road users know your intentions.

Know your limits. Depending on the situation and your cycling experience, you may prefer to get off your bike at a safe point on the road to continue your journey.

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jacknorell | 9 years ago
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Jeez, anyone who rides on roads with tram lines and keeps getting thrown off by the tracks is a bit dim.

Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Gothenburg... they all seem to manage pretty well.

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cqexbesd replied to jacknorell | 9 years ago
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jacknorell wrote:

Jeez, anyone who rides on roads with tram lines and keeps getting thrown off by the tracks is a bit dim.

You only have to come off once...

jacknorell wrote:

Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Gothenburg... they all seem to manage pretty well.

I've come off on tram tracks in Berlin. People tell me it happens to everyone eventually. I said in another thread how many tram tracks I cross on my commute - I forget the exact number now - but it only takes one miscalculation whilst you are dodging a car or errant cyclist or just not quite at the top of your game that day. You can't stay lucky forever.

Wouldn't it be better to have a road system that didn't rely on cyclists getting it right every time? Not just the fit males but the old ladies and the children and the person just nipping down to the shops?

I know there are rubber inserts that can be placed in tram tracks to minimise the chances of this. Is there a reason these can't be used in Croydon?

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goggy | 9 years ago
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I cycle to and from East Croydon station every day - I get off the train and head into London to work, then head back for my return journey south. The tram tracks in Croydon generally are quiet chaotic. I'm used to them (I've fallen over once a few years ago after crossing at too shallow an angle - lesson learned), but still find it intimidating due to cars in very close proximity when crossing the lines as I need to almost always adjust my angle. Every crossing seems to be very narrow as they follow the roads and cross them frequently.

I'm not sure what the council can do to be honest - the ideal solution would be to put different sequencing of traffic lights to allow cyclist to progress at different times to vehicular traffic, but I guess that would cause chaos to the general transport system (there are actually not all that many cyclists in Croydon compared to other parts of London from what I have seen over the years). Indeed, the most difficult part of cycling there is the stupid pedestrians.

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daccordimark replied to goggy | 9 years ago
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goggy wrote:

I'm not sure what the council can do to be honest

How about don't build new tram lines in the first place? There's always been accidents involving cyclists and tram lines but that is never taken into consideration when planning these things. The level of risk is deemed as acceptable. I know someone who lived on the continent for a few years and he came off more than once.

If councils must use the things then they should make proper provision for cyclists to avoid them completely or come up with some way of making them safe for cyclists to cross without having to line up at 90 degrees all the time.

The much derided plans for a new trolley-bus system in Leeds have a massive plus in my view - no metal rails in the road but still the ability to prioritise them over other traffic and no diesel fumes.

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antigee | 9 years ago
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how hard is it to cycle on a road with tram tracks?

sadly as this death shows adding tram tracks to road layouts designed for other vehicles is dangerous - complex junctions are designed to be read by approaching drivers - cyclists (and in some cases pedestrians) are left to try to work out how to safely negotiate them...then throw in something that restricts where you can ride and at what angle you can turn and the mix turns dangerous

very pro tram and pro public transport but for trams and cyclists to mix the design needs to look at cyclists first not as an afterthought and needs to be able to work for those without years of cycling experience to call on

good call by the Coroner

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petertaylor123 | 9 years ago
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Can't be nice being run over by a bus. Feel bad for the guy. If only he had fallen the other way....

I understand that accidents happen, and always will do.
No matter what infrastructure is in place, someone will always fall off their bike, somewhere, at some point.

But, this story still comes back to a cyclist not being able to navigate around/over/alongside tram lines. (See previous story of a Nottingham guy breaking ribs)
Seriously......how hard is it to cycle on a road with tram tracks?

If it really is 'that' hard then Danny Macaskill should forget making a video on the Cuillin Ridge on Skye and just ride through city centre Edinburgh/Manchester/Nottingham/et al.

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daccordimark replied to petertaylor123 | 9 years ago
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petertaylor123 wrote:

Seriously......how hard is it to cycle on a road with tram tracks?

Not sure whether your comment is "Seriously" as in rolls-eyes or asking a serious question - hopefully the latter rather than the former.

As someone who came a cropper on tram tracks two weeks ago it's surprising just how treacherous they can be. It's fine riding parallel to them if there's a good sized gap between the left rail and the kerb for instance. Crossing over them can be a nightmare. I was on an out and back ride that day - fine crossing over them in one direction but the front wheel just went from under me coming back the other way. The angle was a bit shallower and there had been a tiny amount of drizzle in the meantime too. Those factors maybe combined with my lack of experience with tram tracks had me on the road in a flash. The wheel didn't catch in the gap as far as I can tell, it just slipped on the slightly greasy rail.

It's not the first time I've ridden on roads with tram tracks but may well be the last.

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petertaylor123 replied to daccordimark | 9 years ago
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daccordimark wrote:
petertaylor123 wrote:

Seriously......how hard is it to cycle on a road with tram tracks?

Not sure whether your comment is "Seriously" as in rolls-eyes or asking a serious question - hopefully the latter rather than the former.

Was indeed the latter. No 'rolls-eyes'/facetiousness intended.
A genuine question to canvas the opinions of others on how hard people find it to cycle down a road.

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HarrogateSpa | 9 years ago
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Should the bus driver drive in such a way that he can stop if a cyclist falls over?

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Initialised replied to HarrogateSpa | 9 years ago
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HarrogateSpa wrote:

Should the bus driver drive in such a way that he can stop if a cyclist falls over?

Yes, of course, the bus should have been able to stop. But just think, for a moment while I blaspheme; if the cyclist had ignored the red light the bus would not have been moving and the cyclist might still be alive...

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STATO replied to Initialised | 9 years ago
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Ill bite, and the below is all hypothetical as i do not know anything about this tragic case or the location.

If the cyclist runs the red light they;

Could get hit by a faster moving bus they did not see.
Could fall (like he did) into the path of a different bus that would be moving faster as it would be on green.
Could hit and kill a pedestrian who wasnt expecting a cyclist as they had a green man.
etc. etc.

As an alternative;
Could wait behind bus if arrived after.
Could take lane to prevent bus being alongside.

Red light running does not make you safer unless you put yourself in a stupid position by trying to get to the front of the traffic, just because your on a bike (or a 'on-road cycle lane' , which cycle campaigners all hate until it lets them jump traffic) does not mean you need to go to the front of the line, you can quite easily move into the traffic lane and wait your turn like everyone else, moving off and through the junction IN traffic rather than cowering in the gutter or sneaking up the inside and moaning about it being dangerous there, even though we KNOW drivers never look there.

Anyway, ranted.

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Slartibartfast87 | 9 years ago
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I got stuck in the tram tracks about 300m to the East of where this tragedy happened. Fortunately I was thrown off my bike to the left rather than right. I've raised it with councillors who fobbed me off and TfL who don't even seem to understand what the issue is. All of that, what, 10 months after someone had died in similar circumstances mere metres away.

It's blindingly obvious that minor accidents such as mine can result in fatal incidents like in this story, yet the 'decision makers' can't put two and two together. It would be completely negligent and unacceptable in any other industry but on the roads it's all 'at your own risk', creating infrastructure that is patently dangerous for some road users. Pathetic.

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notfastenough replied to Slartibartfast87 | 9 years ago
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Slartibartfast87 wrote:

I got stuck in the tram tracks about 300m to the East of where this tragedy happened. Fortunately I was thrown off my bike to the left rather than right. I've raised it with councillors who fobbed me off and TfL who don't even seem to understand what the issue is. All of that, what, 10 months after someone had died in similar circumstances mere metres away.

It's blindingly obvious that minor accidents such as mine can result in fatal incidents like in this story, yet the 'decision makers' can't put two and two together. It would be completely negligent and unacceptable in any other industry but on the roads it's all 'at your own risk', creating infrastructure that is patently dangerous for some road users. Pathetic.

If you created 2 metal trenches that car tyres could just slip into, I think there would be a little more reaction, no?

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A V Lowe replied to Slartibartfast87 | 9 years ago
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Were you injured? As the trams track is NOT part of the road, it comes under the HSC and serious incidents should be reported by the RIDDOR system.

In this way the serious incidents that often precede a fatal one can be seen as an indicator that something is wrong with a process, or location, and demands attention. How many crashes were not properly recorded, and did this feedback get back to Croydon Tramlink?

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SteppenHerring | 9 years ago
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I can almost see that junction from here. There is a section past it where the tram tracks get very close to the pavement. If you're on the left of the tracks rather than in between them then this can be a bit hairy.

Poor bloke.

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