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news
broken bike.jpgCyclist killed when pedestrian stepped out in front of him may have been prosecuted had he survived
The family of a Reading cyclist who died after a pedestrian stepped out into the road in front of him, causing a crash, were told he may have faced prosecution had he survived, it has emerged.
Benjamin Pedley, aged 26, died from head injuries sustained following the collision in Earley, near Reading, with Nathan Kellsell in March this year. At an inquest earlier this month, witnesses described how the pedestrian had walked into the road without seeing him.
> Berkshire cyclist died after pedestrian stepped out in front of him, finds inquest
Mr Kellsell was also injured and has no memory of the incident, and Mr Pedley’s brother William has told Get Reading that police informed him that had the rider survived, he could have been prosecuted.
However, he and his family believe that pedestrians who step into the road causing a cyclist to crash should be held to account for their actions.
"It is an incredibly sad but avoidable death,” he said. "But I spoke to police officers who said if Ben had survived and was healthy there would be a chance that he would be prosecuted as a road user.
"And yet there is no comeuppance for a pedestrian,” he continued. "At the moment there is no law to say that if you step out into a road you are responsible for your actions.
"Potentially one could step out in front of somebody you have a vendetta against and nothing would happen about it.
"Surely the law needs to be changed so that when you step into a road, you are responsible for your actions," he added.
The news comes in a week that London cyclist Charlie Alliston was sentenced to 18 months’ detention in a young offender institution in connection with the death of pedestrian Kim Briggs.
Last month, an Old Bailey jury cleared Alliston of manslaughter but convicted him of causing bodily harm by furious and wanton driving under the Offences Against The Person Act 1
Mrs Briggs had started to cross London’s Old Street as Alliston approached, with much of the prosecution’s case resting on the fact that his fixed wheel bike had no front brake, meaning it was not legal for use on the road.
That case, and the media furore surrounding it, prompted the government to announce last night an urgent review of the law regarding cyclists, including whether offences of causing death by dangerous or careless cycling should be introduced.
> Government announces cycle safety review in wake of Alliston case
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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I've been in a number of collisions with pedestrians (and have also been guilty of being an ignorant pedestrian that wasn't looking where I was going, but not with any serious consequences). Personally I think cyclists are the ones that need extra (legal) protection as they are more likely to be knocked flying into the path of an oncoming motor vehicle or something equally unpleasant.
Below are some of my collisions with pedestrians:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4f32X3LtgY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dM6K8Ps4rs
There seems to be some confusion about overtaking at crossing... Although Highway Code rule 191 states that vehicles must not overtake at a crossing, the wording is problematic. The actual law states that it only applies to motor vehicles. So cycles ARE permitted to overtake other vehicles at crossings.
At zebra crossings, you only need to give way to pedestrians that have stepped onto the crossing. You don't have to wait for them to fully cross.
I am the first to admit that with hindsight there is something that could have been done to avoid these accidents. But hindsight is an exact science and no amount of holier-than-thou analysis will save you from your own fallibilities. That said, I sincerely hope you all have the good fortune to avoid situations such as these, it's a pretty unpleasant experience.
Ride Safely everyone
Ah, fuck, Morty, what did you do? All right, Morty, pack your shit! That's only gonna keep 'em down for a little bit, Morty! You fucked with squirrels, Morty! We got a good five minutes before they're backing up on our ass, Morty! We have to pack up and move to a new reality, Morty! You know I said we could only do that a couple of times! We're fucked over here because of these damn squirrels, Morty!
rick-and-morty-mortys-mind-blowers-squirrels.png
It is obvious that the only way cyclists can protect themselves is to demonize a more vulnerable group; Freakin Pedestritard Morons, Zombified Walkwankers. Seems to work for drivers.
Mainly because too many look with their ears not their eyes.
Deleted
Isn't this the case where the ped had been to the pub and was in a rush to get to the sweet shop?
- if so, the CPS would never throw money down the drain even considering bringing it to court
that dog has the best road sense of anyone on the video
Really? I mean, are you being serious?
- Undertakes a single car at zebra crossing while pedestrian crosses with a dog, leaving absolutely fuck all margin with predictable results.
- Sees kids playing boisterously up ahead, continues at normal speed, doesn't create any margin by moving to the centre or right of the street, again with predictable results. In fact I would argue that you did predict that result and just wanted to teach them a lesson; I mean, who genuinely shouts out like that when taken by surprise and performing an emergency stop?
- Overtakes a bus with absolutely no visibility of what's on the other side of it, squeezes between the bus and a lorry that was already there. "I'm on my side of the road" - you do know that other vehicles are allowed to cross the white line, right? I don't believe there's a police officer in the land who would caution the lorry driver in that video. The driver had two, perhaps three seconds to do anything about your sudden appearance in his path. Could easily have been checking his nearside mirror or speedo.
If you're going to take unnecessary risks, maybe don't be so self-righteous when it all inevitably goes wrong.
I wonder about that too. I've read of several cases in which cyclists have been killed or injured by pedestrians (walking or jogging).
A war between cyclists and pedestrians seems really meaningless and diving to me. For me getting killed by absent-minded pedestrian seems equally possible with the death from a piano fall, donkey kick or a bathroom electrocution
In London traffic if you don't plough through you don't get anywhere. This scares people who aren't use to it especially as the aggressiveness of the driving varies from borough to borough, and even within parts of the same borough. There are boroughs or parts of boroughs were people refuse to use any form of vehicle unless they are a passenger.
If you do stupid things like overtake a bus when there is no room so you are on the wrong side of the road and you are in one of the more aggressive parts, then don't be surprised if other road users don't stop until the last possible minute if they have to stop.
To be honest having seen those videos you are a total dick head. If you carry on like that you are going to go the way of Charlie Alliston or have a story about you with a broken bike. You could of course try riding sensibly and avoid either outcome, the choice is yours.
Looks given: one. Cyclists seen: one (me). Fucks given: zero.
I get it from pedestrians (and motorists) every day.
Before the prick deliberately walked out on me yesterday morning (laughing as I cursed and slammed on the brakes), I was near work, thinking what a nice ride it'd been and how most motorists/pedestrians/fellow cyclists are actually alright. And they are.
Got to keep remembering that.
Yeah, WTF is pub then sweets? Is this a thing the yoof do these days?
Little shit better mean 'drugs'.
These twats are everywhere. Had one on Sunday that didn't want to cross at the crossing 30ft away and started meandering across, shopping in hand. As I approached, eye contact was made and still they came, confident I would stop for them or something. I didn't slow down as I was only doing about 15 with a front brake(not 18!) and they had to eventually stop for 2 seconds as I rode past.
As I passed them they then screamed "boo" at the top of the voice, I just looked round, shook my head and kept on riding. She thought it was hilarious. Small things.
To be fair, whislt the first video is an example of terrible cycling, the second one is OK in my opinion. The rider had slowed and moved to the centre of teh road in a pre-emptive manner.
The fact that the riders could all but stop in time shows that it was perfectly acceptible cycling.
Not so the first video... poor form.
"Small things" - that would be many people's (1) capacity for rational thought, and (2) empathy with their fellow humans, then?
Unfortunately pedestrians don't give any consideration to cyclists because they cant hear them therefore the road must be clear.
So far I have been lucky and managed to avoid any accidents involving pedestrians, but going by the fact that pedestrians meandering out in front of me is pretty much a daily occurance there will come a point when an accident will happen.
But to be fair some pedestrians just dont give any fucks at all.... Sat in a queue of traffic in my car, a pedestrian, listening to music and texting on her phone, walks through the line of stationary traffic, and straight onto the live carriageway in front of a van. How the van managed to stop and avoid hitting her I don't know...... but the best part is.... the pedestrian never even noticed the van, no reaction to the fact that the van must have stopped less than a couple of feet from them.... just kept texting and walking without a care in the world
Wish I had £1 for every time I've been passed by a car and the passenger has found it funny to scream something on the way past. Cracks me up every time - bastards!
Substitute pedestrian for cyclist, "shopping" for "lycra clad", "crossing" for "cycle lane" "meandering" for "2 abreast" and "I didn't slow down" for "punishment pass".
Pedestrians in the road? Tough. Slow down and yield priority or accept that drivers of larger vehicles have the same privileges as yourself when bullying their way past inconvenient slower, smaller, more vulnerable road users.
As to your pedestrian, you had no idea if they were drunk, suicidal, mentally disturbed, looking to cause you harm or just daft. Proceed with caution!
Substitute pedestrian for cyclist, "shopping" for "lycra clad", "crossing" for "cycle lane" "meandering" for "2 abreast" and "I didn't slow down" for "punishment pass". Pedestrians in the road? Tough. Slow down and yield priority or accept that drivers of larger vehicles have the same privileges as yourself when bullying their way past inconvenient slower, smaller, more vulnerable road users. As to your pedestrian, you had no idea if they were drunk, suicidal, mentally disturbed, looking to cause you harm or just daft. Proceed with caution![/quote]
No. I was aware the person was there. They were aware I was there. They chose to try and cross 30ft from a proper crossing for which I would have legally stopped.
Stop all this pedestrian being the highest form of life thought. If they are choosing the enter the road literally feet away from proper crossing then sorry, imo they don't have 'right of way'. Nobody got punishment passed - pedestrian chose to keep walking towards a vehicle already in the road.
If it was an elderly person/child/disabled person my attitude and I'd happily yield. It was just a chancer that didn't care. When pedestrians have accidents that don't involve being at proper crossing points either the vehicle was somewhere it shouldn't have been or the pedestrian was.
What a f***ing tw*t
Cyclists are permitted to go down a big hill with their eyes closed, would you do it?
What you believe you HAVE to do isn't really the factor, when passing the inside of the car you were both going too fast and not giving yourself clear visibility. When vehicles are stopped at a zebra crossing you will often see people joining from each side, some often join from behind a car etc. to meet half way in the road, again not best practice but quite common.
If it was me you'd hit riding like that, I'd have helped you up just so I could put you on your derrier again!
That's the point. The motoring lobby seeks to divide and conquer. If they can get the government and media to foment a phoney war between "pedestrians" and "cyclists" (because nobody's both, right?), the most vulnerable groups of road users won't have as loud a voice as they could do against the most dangerous.
All very good points.
For the sake of cyclists everywhere please take these of Youtube ASAP! I had a few incidents like this when I was young and learned from them. Always be prepared to stop approaching zebra crossings and when you see children playing in the street.
Neither of those are good cycling technique. But I still think they fall into the category of understandable errors (assuming the cyclist is inexperienced).
In the first one, the cyclist should have stopped or at least slowed to a crawl (legally I'm pretty sure you have to stop if a ped is on a zebra crossing, even if they've gone beyond the part where you are). But I think the behaviour of the motorist is worse, even inexplicable.
Poor ped, caught between a crap driver and a bad cyclist.
In the second one while the cyclist should have been aware that little kids tend to run around randomly without looking, it is still true that the child was lucky it wasn't a car. That road is too narrow for two way traffic plus two lanes of parking anyway. Bar it to cars, ban parking, or make it one-way!
Disagree in the first instance Fluffy. We don't know what happened with the driver, effed up, foot slipped who knows? But they'd stopped and were presumably letting someone cross. The rider was travelling at a decent speed and had no intention of lessening it, looking for a gap, an opportunity. It's hard to beg for 1.5m and then dive down the inside of a car like that. Ignorant, arrogant, shite cycling.
The second is 50:50 and not really representative of what was being discussed. Appears the parents a moron for letting them play like that and the cyclist should have been able to see it coming. In fairness had scrubbed some speed off. What a car would do isn't really worth thinking about...
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