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Livingston jogger dies after being hit by cyclist

Police have traced cyclist but say there is no suggestion of any criminality

A jogger has died following a collision with a cyclist on a footpath in Livingston, reports the BBC. West Lothian police have described the incident as ‘a tragic accident’.

Peter Craig, 49, was jogging on the Loan Footpath at its junction with Fergus Avenue at 9am on Saturday when he was knocked down by a cyclist. His injuries initially appeared minor, but after being taken to St John’s Hospital and then the Western General, it transpired that he had suffered brain damage and he died the following day.

Sergeant Gary Taylor of West Lothian police said: “This was a tragic accident and our thoughts go to Peter’s family at this very sad time.”

The cyclist has now been traced. When appealing for information police had earlier said that they were not expecting to bring charges as there was “no suggestion of any criminality”.

Craig was a member of West Lothian Triathlon, who paid tribute on their Facebook page.

“Peter was involved in a collision on Saturday while out training for Aberfeldy and suffered brain injuries. Peter had been a member of the club for two years and his enthusiasm for the club and for triathlon was infectious. He had recently become a committee member and had also taken the lead on the Wednesday night run sessions. He will be sadly missed.”

The dangers of pavement cycling have been to the fore in the news this week. Earlier today, Radio 4 held a phone-in entitled At Risk From Cyclists in response to a recent incident in which a pavement cyclist in Blackpool was captured on CCTV footage colliding with and injuring a three-year-old girl. Despite this, it is worth noting that pedestrian fatalities due to collisions involving cyclists are actually very rare.

Figures obtained by CTC, the national cycling charity from the Department for Transport (DfT) revealed that one pedestrian was killed in an incident involving a cycle on a pavement or verge between 2009 and 2013. In contrast, 34 pedestrians were killed by vehicles on the pavement or verge each year over the same period.

In all, around 98 per cent of serious or fatal pedestrian injuries in urban areas are due to collisions with motor vehicles. This is influenced by traffic volume, but taking into account distances covered, mile for mile a motor vehicle is still 2.5 times more likely than a bike to be involved in a fatal collision with a pedestrian.

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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29 comments

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Stumps | 8 years ago
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Whilst my earlier comment was just hyperthetical, i agree with a lot of people here in that it was an accident with no blame attached.

The Police may well have done a very thorough investigation, it just doesn't say anything about it so why jump to conclusions.

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levermonkey | 8 years ago
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Go to any shopping mall and watch people interacting. You will see hundreds of no fault collisions an hour. People bump into each other, apologise and move on. Every once in a while a collision results in someone losing their balance and ending up on the floor.

No one is at fault; no one is to blame, it just happens!

This could just be one of those situations. Only the location is different and the 'collision-ees' mode of locomotion.

This is simply a regrettable incident where the only thing you can do is extend your deepest sympathies to all concerned.

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antigee | 8 years ago
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think it is time to revisit the discussion last year (?) I think instigated by road.cc about comments on death reports - I find very little of the above appropriate

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Alf0nse | 8 years ago
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Dont insult the poor guy by calling him a "jogger" ffs

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vonhelmet replied to Alf0nse | 8 years ago
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Alf0nse wrote:

Dont insult the poor guy by calling him a "jogger" ffs

Eh? I think this says more about your perceptions of the word "jogger" than anything else. Was he jogging? If so, he is a jogger.

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bendertherobot | 8 years ago
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It's time to change the headline, surely?

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Leodis | 8 years ago
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I was knocked off by a pedestrian who walked out into the road without looking, I nearly ended up under car wheels but ended up with a bill of over £100 for repairs, what did the zombie ped do? Apologised and walked off to work, I was off the bike for weeks and at huge expense, Forgetaboutit.

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mrmo | 8 years ago
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The runner died, which is sad. But did the cyclist actually kill him? Or was this simply a pre-existing condition and the collision was simply the trigger. Would two runners bumping into each other have had the same result? If the runner had bumped into a pedestrian would it still have happened?

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kcr | 8 years ago
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The posters above are correct. All the paths in Livingston are shared use (which makes it one of the most cycle friendly towns in Scotland; you can get almost anywhere in the town without riding on a road).
This is a very, very sad incident. Stick to the facts that the police have provided, instead of speculating, and spare a thought for the family of the deceased.

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noether | 8 years ago
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I was cycling along the Military Canal near Hythe last Sunday on a shared un-asphalted path, lots of parents with cycling children, owners walking their dogs etc... when 2 cyclists (not the Lycra type) suddenly emerged from a bend at full speed. Everybody scrambled for cover whilst I braked hard to avoid collision. The cyclists muttered sorry and sped off. Everyone of us is responsible for his own road behaviour. I can only hope the cyclist involved in the fatal accident can look at himself in the mirror every morning and convince himself it was a mere "accident". RIP a totally innocent road user in the best sense of the term.

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Fish_n_Chips | 8 years ago
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Poor guy R.I.P.

Should not be cycling on footpath unless you are under 12?

Very rare incident of crash.

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KiwiMike replied to Fish_n_Chips | 8 years ago
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Fish_n_Chips wrote:

Poor guy R.I.P.

Should not be cycling on footpath unless you are under 12?

Very rare incident of crash.

It's a shared-use path, not a 'footpath'. The cyclist was allowed to be there.

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earth | 8 years ago
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Unfortunate that the article does not say why there was no charge. I am left wondering what happened.

To put it in perspective I suggest a newspaper publishes all the road fatalities that occur each day for a month. Whether they be pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, skateboarders or motorcar drivers they should publish the circumstances. If the families are sensitive about this then perhaps they can just say 'A person in X part of the country died in Y circumstances'.

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KiwiMike replied to earth | 8 years ago
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earth wrote:

Unfortunate that the article does not say why there was no charge. I am left wondering what happened.

...IANAL, but maybe because both parties were there legally, there was no hint that the cyclist was acting in a reckless or deliberate manner likely to cause danger to others, etc etc?

If this and a few above comments are the sort of coverage and response an article explicitly quoting the Police that there was no fault or breach of the law gets on a specifically pro-cycling website, it's no wonder the UK's cyclist<>others culture is f*cked.

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rggfddne replied to KiwiMike | 8 years ago
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KiwiMike wrote:
earth wrote:

Unfortunate that the article does not say why there was no charge. I am left wondering what happened.

...IANAL, but maybe because both parties were there legally, there was no hint that the cyclist was acting in a reckless or deliberate manner likely to cause danger to others, etc etc?

If this and a few above comments are the sort of coverage and response an article explicitly quoting the Police that there was no fault or breach of the law gets on a specifically pro-cycling website, it's no wonder the UK's cyclist<>others culture is f*cked.

That he was involved in a collision where someone else died is plenty hint. Enough to damn him? No, but certainly enough to warrant a thorough investigation as to how this happened.

As stumps said, swap the situation for a cyclist killed on a shared-use road and we'd be up in arms about what appears to be a feckless investigation. This is not some situation where cyclists win or motorists win or whatever. It's a situation where irresponsible people on all forms of transport win, and responsible people on all forms of transport lose.

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ooldbaker | 8 years ago
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but taking into account distances covered, mile for mile a motor vehicle is still 2.5 times more likely than a bike to be involved in a fatal collision with a pedestrian.

This is fairly meaningless. A high proportion of miles covered by motor vehicles are on motorways or trunk roads where there are no pedestrians. If you were able to compare the "at risk" miles covered by a car and those by bikes you would get a far higher figure than 2.5.

In any event for the pedestrian you are 34 times as likely to be killed by a car than a bike on the pavement. It doesn't really matter how far the vehicle has traveled to the person hit.

I would think more people are struck by lightning and certainly more are killed by dogs. fatalities caused by cyclists are statistically irrelevant.

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Beaufort | 8 years ago
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Would y'all be so cool with this if the deceased were a relative ? Your wife or child ?

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ianrobo replied to Beaufort | 8 years ago
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Beaufort wrote:

Would y'all be so cool with this if the deceased were a relative ? Your wife or child ?

This is about the media's reaction to the events that led to the sad death. There is no legal action so it was an accident but not as it seems to be reported.

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KiwiMike replied to Beaufort | 8 years ago
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Beaufort wrote:

Would y'all be so cool with this if the deceased were a relative ? Your wife or child ?

Actually, yes. Or I certainly hope so, yes. Unlucky shit happens all the time to good people. Every parent knows the dilemma of letting kids do risky things that could end badly (getting out of the bath can kill you, FFS). In life there is risk. If no-one was doing anything dodgy - as the Police very clearly pointed out - then there's no reason to read more into it than 'tragic accident'. One can only imagine how the guy on the bike must feel. He's got to live with that moment replaying endlessly for the rest of his life. There but for the grace of god go any of us, with a small child running out from behind a car and under our perfectly-legal/responsible 20-30MPH+ wheels.

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Sniffer | 8 years ago
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Let's not make this a helmet debate. Don't really want an infrastructure debate on this page either.

It is a tragic accident and I know that his friends will be devasted and many of them as road cyclists may read these pages so let's keep the other stuff for other threads and remember how lucky we are.

I didn't know him, but I do know some of his friends. They are some of the good guys in this world.

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spen | 8 years ago
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This shows how fragile we really are. It's possible he could have had an undetected anueuryism which ruptured as a result of the accident. It has been estimated that between 2 and 5% of people in the have an aneurysm sitting dormant.

So, how does that helmet look now?

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truffy replied to spen | 8 years ago
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spen wrote:

This shows how fragile we really are. It's possible he could have had an undetected anueuryism which ruptured as a result of the accident. It has been estimated that between 2 and 5% of people in the have an aneurysm sitting dormant.

So, how does that helmet look now?

Perhaps all the cyclists 'murdered' by motorists had dormant aneurysms that ruptured as a result of the accidents. Sorry, 'incidents'.

So, how does that cyclist-as-victim bullshit look now?

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hampstead_bandit | 8 years ago
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//ep1.pinkbike.org/p6pb12258719/p5pb12258719.jpg)

this was Friday last week on segregated and elevated CS3 in East London. the Veolia / Tower Hamlets refuse truck driver caused a female cyclist to crash, thankfully she was not injured.

the driver then became abusive towards cyclists, telling them to "f(ck off!" before getting back in the vehicle and driving further along CS3 causing oncoming cyclists to swerve and brake hard.

Complaint has been made to LB Tower Hamlets with absolutely no response...

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Stumps | 8 years ago
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Change the story and its a cyclist hit by a car on a "shared use road" and they later die, the lynch mob would be out for the driver. Just saying.......

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ianrobo | 8 years ago
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Can the BBC and Daily Heil please report on all pedestrians killed by cars crossing the road and cars speed for example ? CTC are right, cars far more dangerous.

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skull-collector... | 8 years ago
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"Should have been wearing a helmet...."

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KiwiMike | 8 years ago
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As best I can work out, the Loan path is a shared-use path, not a 'footpath'.

The collision occurred, from the local FB page sounds like at a corner, he was able to walk away but died later from what sounds like bleeding on the brain. There but for the grace of God go I, faffing up clipping in/out one day.

“no suggestion of any criminality”

A genuine tragic accident for a guy living life to the full, by the look of him. Our condolences to the family and community.

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jacknorell | 8 years ago
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This is going to play 'well' with the Daily Fail mob...

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Bikebikebike | 8 years ago
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Hmmm, you shouldn't really be running peds over on a shared path.

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