Police tape (CC licensed by freefotouk on Flickr)
Greater Manchester Police have issued a witness appeal after a cyclist was killed following a collision with a cement mixer on Wilmslow Road in Fallowfield yesterday afternoon.
The male cyclist was pronounced dead at the scene of the incident, which took place at 3.25pm opposite Manchester University's Owens Park halls of residence, reports the Manchester Evening News.
The newspaper says that the road was closed for several hours while policgconducted investigations, including interviewing the driver of the cement mixer at the scene. It adds that no arrest was made.
Sergeant Lee Westhead of Greater Manchester Police’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit said: “We are investigating the circumstances leading up to this collision and are appealing for anyone who witnessed the incident to call us as soon as possible.”
The Serious Collision Investigation Unit can be contacted on 0161 856 4742.
Daniel Ali, 21, who works close by, told the Manchester Evening News: “There must have been about 10 police cars and quick as a flash they were shutting down a massive area of the road.
“I could see there was one woman walking away crying and a couple of others who looked really shaken up and quickly you realised it was a serious situation - to hear someone’s died is terrible news.
“It’s not unusual at all for cyclists to be knocked off their bikes on that stretch of road - it’s quite common. The road just gets so busy and there’s nowhere for them to go, it’s been a problem for a while.”
Two years ago, law firm Levenes identified several junctions on Wilmslow Road as being among the most dangerous in the city for cyclists.
And last year, Manchester City Council said it planned to introduce cycle lanes and cyclist-only traffic lights in a bid to make the road safer for cyclists, in a move welcomed by local cycling club Manchester Wheelers.
The club's vice-president, Viv Slack, said at the time: “The Wilmslow Road area is a popular route for many cyclists but always feels fairly dangerous with cars and buses pulling in and out of parking spaces and side roads, often without checking mirrors or indicating."
Wilmslow Road is by far the busiest cycle route in Mancchester, with more than 2,000 cyclists riding along it each day.
Born in Scotland, Simon moved to London aged seven and now lives in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds with his miniature schnauzer, Elodie. He fell in love with cycling one Saturday morning in 1994 while living in Italy when Milan-San Remo went past his front door. A daily cycle commuter in London back before riding to work started to boom, he's been news editor at road.cc since 2009. Handily for work, he speaks French and Italian. He doesn't get to ride his Colnago as often as he'd like, and freely admits he's much more adept at cooking than fettling with bikes.