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news
Broken bike (CC licensed image by garryknight, www.flickr.com)S Glos resident calls for Severn Bridge Road Race to be routed away from village where cyclist was killed
A South Gloucestershire man has launched a petition to try and prevent the return of the Severn Bridge Road Race to a village where a cyclist was killed while participating in the 2013 edition of the race, claiming that the roads in the area are too unsafe to race on.
Junior Heffernan was killed when he hit a car head-on while descending Vattingstone Lane in Olveston on the third lap of the ten-lap race, which is held on partly open roads.
> Inquest hears of 40mph head-on crash that killed Junior Heffernan during Severn Bridge Road Race
An inquest in 2014 heard that the 23-year-old from Devon had been riding at 46.5 miles per hour and was on the wrong side of the road when he struck a BMW car being driven at 15 miles per hour in the opposite direction.
The race has followed a different route since then, but next year’s edition in March is scheduled to pass through Olveston.
Local resident Graham Clark, aged 74, has gathered more than 100 signatures on a petition he put up in the local post office calling for the race to be rerouted, reports the Gloucestershire Gazette.
He said: “I just don’t think that this kind of race is suitable for the area. It is quite a disruptive event for us all as residents. They close off the roads for a long time so residents will be put out by it.”
He continued: “I want to make it clear that I don’t want them to stop racing, I just think that the event is more suited to other areas.
“The infrastructure is not suitable for the road that the event is planned for.
“These are top level cyclists, they are really fit people and they go way faster than the speed limits for cars.”
Avon & Somerset Police said they were awaiting a risk assessment from British Cycling and would look at it carefully before signing it off.
A spokesman for the force said: “As far as we are aware there has only been one objection to the race and the concerns raised – and any others that are received – will be listened to by the organisers and the police as the reviewing body.
“The race is still in the planning stages but has now been risk assessed by British Cycling. Once this risk assessment is received by our force liaison officer, it will be fully scrutinised before any sign-off takes place.”
“Conditions have already been set for any future risk assessment, which will change the format of this race, from its previous format.
“The race is organised at the highest level with the safety of those competing and the wider general public paramount.
“Concern has been expressed about a fatal accident, which had occurred in 2013. There is no evidence to suggest the route, the organiser/organisation or British Cycling played any part in contributing to this incident,” he added.
Organisers of the race are holding a public meeting at Tockington Parish Hall on 5 November to hear the concerns of local residents.
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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14 comments
Apologies to Mr Clark if we are misreading his motives, and I hope that we are, but on the face of it this looks like "I don't want it to happen at all, and if I use Mr Heffernan's name then They can't possibly argue against it!".
The police sound like they're basically happy for it to go ahead.
I wonder what this change of format is? Short of making it a handicap race I can't see anything that could alter the fact that there'll be a large bunch of riders doing nearly 50mph downhill into a village.
Not Ok to disrupt Olveston residents but OK to move the race and inconvenience residents elsewhere?
If his concern was really for the safety of the cyclists in the event, surely he would be advocating closing the route through Olverston to motorised traffic?
Maybe the event organisers should be forced to get the roads closed, its not a time trial so how can racing be allowed on open public roads?
Racing is allowed on open public roads - it happens up and down the country every weekend and most midweek evenings between March and October. At least three bodies organise racing in the UK - British Cycling, TLI and LVRC - all of those in conjunction with local authorities and police forces via an arduous process of risk assessments to ensure safety of riders and the public as well as can be. Races on public roads have motorcycle outriders, commissaire's cars and Marshals at hazard spots.
Occasionally, there are accidents - just as there are with time trials, triathlons, rallying and other activities.
I think it would be a salute to the rider who died if they were to use the same route. Cyclists are at risk from motorists to a much greater degree than the road conditions.
This is NIMBYism at its best.
Does “local resident Graham Clarke” not think that we don’t want to see another rider die during a race and will do an in depth risk assessment to decide if a race is viable on this circuit? If it is practicable and the police issue a permit then the race could go ahead.
He has already arrived at his conclusion.
He said: “I just don’t think that this kind of race is suitable for the area. It is quite a disruptive event for us all as residents. They close off the roads for a long time so residents will be put out by it.”
Perhaps that is the real reason for the objection........
He also said
“These are top level cyclists, they are really fit people and they go way faster than the speed limits for cars.”
Really?..........
The rider was killed while riding at 46.5mph. If the speed limit is 30mph, I would consider that to be "way faster then the speed limits for cars".
There's no speed limit on Vattingstone Lane (other than the national one). It's a bit outside the village.
I would also. Though I wouldn't consider it 'way faster than the speeds many motorists would in practice drive at in a 30mph zone'. It's actually a bit slower than many I see.
But I'm not at all sure about racing on non-closed roads, for any vehicle type. Motorists sometimes do it (on an amateur basis) and when they do it sometimes results in third-parties being killed.
If you want to do motor racing on a legal basis it's things like rallying (which can use public roads under certain conditions) or it's on purpose built facilities like Silverstone. Unofficial "motor racing" on public roads (ie two or three cars having a burn up around the M25) is incredibly rare and incredibly illegal.
When cyclists do it, it's under the auspices of legislation called "The Cycle Racing on the Highways Act". There is specific Government legislation around it and provided that the rules within that have been followed, you are legally allowed to do it. If you don't like it, don't ride it; no-one is forcing you to enter a race.
As mentioend above, the complaint sounds very much like a NIMBY trying to use one tragic accident nearly 7 years ago to stop the event because perish the thought that he might be delayed getting out of his driveway.