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Cyclist in critical condition after collision on major motorway, second cyclist also taken to hospital

Police say the investigation into the incident on Sunday evening is "ongoing"...

An investigation is underway into a collision which saw two cyclists taken to hospital, one of the riders in a critical condition, after emergency services were called to a crash involving the two people on bikes and an Audi being driven on the M9 in Scotland.

While the circumstances around the incident remain unclear, police in Stirling say it occurred shortly after 5pm on Sunday evening with paramedics and police arriving on the scene near junction 7 for the M876 Falkirk.

One cyclist involved, aged 26, remains in a critical condition at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, while the second male cyclist, 29, was taken to Forth Valley Hospital for an assessment. The driver of the Audi involved was not injured.

In footage from the scene, published by STV, two closed lanes can be seen with police vehicles and officers in attendance. One bicycle is seen resting against the central reservation while a second can be seen in between the barriers. The vehicle believed to be involved is then stopped further up the motorway in the inside lane with its hazard lights on.

The major motorway remained closed until after midnight on Monday morning, police appealing for anyone with information to get in touch via 101 and quote the incident 2738 of 2 June 2024.

"Our enquiries into the circumstances surrounding this incident remain ongoing and we are appealing to anyone with information to please come forward. We are particularly keen to speak with any motorists who were in the area around 5pm on Sunday and may have dashcam footage, which could prove useful to the investigation," Inspector Andrew Thomson from Stirling Road Policing Unit said.

While the circumstances surrounding the incident remain unclear, cyclists are not allowed to ride on motorways, numerous recent cases having been reported involving riders, sometimes following questionable sat-nav directions intended for motorists, being pulled off motorways by police concerned for their safety.

In August, a cyclist was stopped by police on the M27 in Hampshire and charged with using an excluded vehicle on a motorway.

Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.

Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.

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17 comments

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Mr Hoopdriver | 5 months ago
1 like

Mountain bikes and near the central reservation but it looks more as if they are on opposite carriageways not with one of them in the space between the barriers.

It's all wrong.  If they were on the motorway they could have been hit in the relative refuge of the hard shoulder or possibly crossing the slip road but to be near the central reservation is the wrongest of wrong places to be.

I hope the critically injured rider gets out of hospital alive and in good shape.

I wonder if we'll ever find out the full circumstances around this.

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the little onion | 6 months ago
4 likes

Not sure where abouts this was, but the M9/A9 goes from dual carriageway to A-road and back again a few times. This might be a factor in why the cyclists ended up on the road.

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dreamlx10 replied to the little onion | 5 months ago
2 likes
the little onion wrote:

the M9/A9 goes from dual carriageway to A-road and back again a few times.

No it doesn't, the M9 runs from west of Edinburgh to Dunblane and is a motorway the whole length 

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quiff replied to the little onion | 5 months ago
0 likes

Looks to be around here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/wfgqqiuD9hPENTHW6.  

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HLaB replied to the little onion | 5 months ago
0 likes

I dont think thats the case here, the M876 diverges off the M9 to the Kincardine/ Clackmannanshire Bridges.  The M9 has been motorway all the way from Dunblane (circa 13miles) (I've darted across the Dunblane roundabout a few times where it is an A road technically, but it is clear that its a motorway south of it and crazy N-S speed traffic).  The M876 has been motorway since  just after the bridges (circa 1.5 miles) and its pretty clear as a person on a bike that you need to avoid the motorway and turn of into Bellsdyke/ Skinflats.  The bikes seem to be on the northbound carriageway which has been motorway all the way from Ediburgh circa (20miles) and the only A road junction is at Falkirk/Grangemouth circa 2.5 miles away, Ive cycled under the motorway there and its quite clear that up one slip road ramp is the motorway.  None-the-less I'm hearing via tw@tter that more cyclist were escorted of the motorway near there to day so something is up now, where as for the last 30-40years I don't think it has.

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brooksby | 6 months ago
5 likes
Quote:

The driver of the Audi involved was not injured.

Did anyone imagine otherwise? 

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mark1a replied to brooksby | 6 months ago
1 like
brooksby wrote:
Quote:

The driver of the Audi involved was not injured.

Did anyone imagine otherwise? 

Not entirely sure what a difference the brand of vehicle would make to the outcome in this kind of situation.

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brooksby replied to mark1a | 6 months ago
1 like

The driver had an Audi, therefore they were a Very Important Person?

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mark1a replied to brooksby | 6 months ago
3 likes
brooksby wrote:

The driver had an Audi, therefore they were a Very Important Person?

You're going to have to explain it I'm afraid, I appreciate we don't know all of what the circumstances are in this story, however I'm not sure how the brand of car made a difference to the fact that the two cyclists involved in a collision on a motorway were injured and the driver of said car was not.

One thing I do know is that a couple of people have been injured, one seriously, and regardless of whether or not they should or should not have been on the motorway, all you can do is make a sweeping generalisation regarding the driver, who, while not physically injured, is probably in a bad place themselves after this.

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brooksby replied to mark1a | 6 months ago
6 likes

OK.

Two cyclists were hospitalised following a collision between them and a motor vehicle on a motorway.

The point I was trying to make was that, regardless of what happened, I was wondering why on earth the police had felt it necessary to confirm that the motorist (whatever vehicle they were driving) was unharmed.

OF COURSE they were unharmed.  That's the point of all of the safety equipment fitted in a modern car - to keep the occupants unharmed for so long as they haven't driven into a vehicle bigger than their own.

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Backladder replied to mark1a | 5 months ago
2 likes
mark1a wrote:
brooksby wrote:
Quote:

The driver of the Audi involved was not injured.

Did anyone imagine otherwise? 

Not entirely sure what a difference the brand of vehicle would make to the outcome in this kind of situation.

It suggests that Audis are so flimsily built that there was a serious possibility that the driver could have sustained injuries in a collision with a bicycle and rider.

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JLasTSR replied to Backladder | 5 months ago
0 likes

It does not suggest that particularly. Other things could also have happened.  

 

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HLaB replied to brooksby | 5 months ago
0 likes

Given motorway speeds I wouldn't have been so certain, regardless of the vehicle type.  Idiot assume they are invulnerable in their metal box but at that speed there's no guarantee.

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marmotte27 | 6 months ago
1 like

If this is really related to satnavs that's just mad... Motorists blindly following directions with no regard to reality, let alone other peoples safety and health, ok, that's to some degree the inherent egotism and stupidity of being a motorist (the sheer existence of motorways is part of the same arrogance of space /otherwise).

But cyclists doing this shit, and thus sort of justifying even the most extreme forms of victim blaming...

Come on people, we're better than that!

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I love my bike replied to marmotte27 | 6 months ago
2 likes

Drivists keep failing to follow the the laws & Highway Code & they've notionally had to pass a test!

Some other European country's motorway signs are green & not blue. Also, entering motorways by slip road, there are no excluded vehicles signage, so not that hard to use one in error, especially if one's destination is only shown via the motorway.

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giff77 replied to I love my bike | 5 months ago
1 like

I've wondered for a while now as to why the blue signs highlighting prohibited traffic no longer exist on slip roads. Even to have a cyclist/pedestrian prohibited sign would be a massive help. 

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mdavidford replied to marmotte27 | 6 months ago
2 likes
marmotte27 wrote:

If this is really related to satnavs...

road.cc wrote:

While the circumstances surrounding the incident remain unclear...

Really nothing more than rampant road.cc speculation and a weak excuse to cross-link another story at this point.

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