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news
Richmond ParkRichmond Park cyclist crashes into car’s rear window after driver slows to let geese cross road
A cyclist crashed into the rear window of a car in Richmond Park yesterday after a driver slowed down to let some geese cross the road, according to police.
The incident happened on Boxing Day morning between Kingston and Ham gates, according to a tweet from Royal Parks police, accompanied by a photograph of the broken rear window of the Mercedes car involved.
Officers at #RichmondPark have been dealing with a road traffic collision between Kingston Gate and Ham Gate after the driver of a vehicle slowed to allow some geese to cross the road and a male on a bicycle collided into the rear of her vehicle and through the back window. pic.twitter.com/dNbWJPBDgY
— Royal Parks Police (@MPSRoyal_Parks) December 26, 2021
Officers confirmed that the male cyclist had been taken to hospital, adding that his injuries were not “life threatening or life changing,” and that they are continuing to investigate the incident.
*threatening
— Royal Parks Police (@MPSRoyal_Parks) December 26, 2021
News of the crash has reignited calls for motor vehicles to be banned from the 955-hectrare Royal Park which is hugely popular with cyclists from southwest London and beyond and is a national nature reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation.
Among those responding to the tweet from the police was Rory McCarron, a specialist cycling lawyer at Leigh Day solicitors, who was riding his bike in Richmond Park yesterday and described how he had seen some “awful driving,” including motorists exceeding the 20mph speed limit.
Richmond Park was closed to motor traffic for five months from March last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the decision by The Royal Parks to reopen the roads to rat-running drivers from March was described as a “reckless and drastic” move by London Cycling Campaign. Access to the park for motorists is due to be reviewed in the New Year.
Footage of close passes on cyclists and other instances of irresponsible and intimidating driving is regularly posted to social media, and we have regularly reported on cyclists being injured in road traffic collisions in the park.
Last month cycling instructor and bike mechanic David Williams said he was knocked off his bike on purpose by a driver as he returned home from a training session at a local school.
> Driver deliberately knocks cyclist off bike in Richmond Park
The 53-year-old broke his collarbone and sustained severe bruising as a result of the incident, which is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police.
"This one car, a blue BMW, went past me and was really close,” he said. “I slapped the boot to let the driver know how close he had been.
“He immediately braked quite sharply. I wasn’t able to stop but filtered along the road between the car and grass and ended up in front of him.
“Immediately, he then accelerated and came alongside me – about a foot away. I rapped on his roof to make the point he was too close and get him away.
“He accelerated again and swerved in towards me, knocking me off balance and I fell right onto my shoulder into the road. He then sped off down the hill.”
He added: “The people in the other cars behind me were shocked. This was not an accident. They probably thought they wanted to scare me, but the consequences are very serious for me.
“My head hit the floor quite hard and my helmet is now finished as it has a big crack in it.”
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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104 comments
This one car, a blue BMW, went past me and was really close
Of course it was!
What a tsunami of drivel.
However, the following appear clear.
1. Incomplete information supplied by the police
2. None of us was there
3. There seems to be an inexhasutible supply of muppets who ignore 1 and 2 above.
4. Driving and riding with forethought in resepect of the potential consequence of actions/inaction decrease the chance of being involved in an incident.
Do you drive a dark grey Merc, by any chance?
Yeah, but it doesn't have a back window
Well, there is certainly a lot of drivel on twitter about it.
Clearly on a cycling site, you are going to get comments about the incident framed by people's experience of the park or the various videos available of driving behaviours in the park.
No mention of rabid squirrels though.
I blame the beetles: https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2021/06/17/richmond-park-sick-dead-squirrels/
(Maybe not the same Richmond Park, though)
Anyhow, squirrels are very unlikely to get or carry rabies.
IIRC they can carry leprosy, though...
Are you sure you're not thinking of leprechauns?
Let it be, HP
That welsh one was rabid !!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-59819349
Only figuratively - they gave one of its victims a tetanus shot. Maybe you're thinking of Welsh Rarebit?
I blame Jeremy Corbyn.
I'm going to implement my New Year resolution early this year. It's a far too belated one, I realise, but from now on I'm not going to respond to anything this sad little man says, however hard he trolls. Apart from the fact that he's just so boring and predictable, I've realised that by responding to him and giving him the acknowledgement he so desperately craves we may be guilty of giving him verification and so retarding the process of helping him on the road to seeking the help he so desperately needs to overcome the psychological trauma of not being chosen as a prefect at school or whatever it is that's made him quite such an inadequate, attention seeking individual.
I don't presume to tell others how to behave but would welcome anyone who would like to join me in this. The site has been such a much nicer place to be since he's been away, the second he's back he starts dragging the whole thing down again. I don't suppose he'll quit immediately but the less attention we pay him (again, I realise that I've realised it far too belatedly) the sooner he'll go off and find somewhere else to troll.
I will only ever reply to the troll when its behaviour is execrable, and then only with the appropriate sticker.
I think Rendel has it better. No response at all, not even the sticker. If every one of his "written effluence" just has nothing on them afterwards, he will go back under the bridge or will escalate his postings in enough of a way to force a response from the site operators. Either way full ignores should be the order of the day to his posts from now on.
This /\
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Usually yes thats true driving into the back of someone is your fault because you muts have been too close to stop in time.
But if they have just overtaken you and braked or pulled out in front of you and braked they could easily be inside your stopping distance.
Geese.... Crossing the road... In Richmond Park.
They tend to stay around the ponds. I live next to the park and spend quite a lot of time there. I've never seen geese by or crossing the main road.
Plenty of deer though.
One cannot help but wonder about the wording of the police report here given the physics. If the driver merely "slowed'' for the geese rather than braked hard and stopped, the gap between the motor vehicle and the cyclist would also close "slowly.'' Unless the cyclist was asleep at the bars, a possibility but a remote one, it would seem difficult in this situation to maintain enough speed to hit the car with the force required to go over the truck and smash the rear glass. Being unfamiliar with Richmond Park, however, I will confess to a lack of knowledge of how many people ride fixies there, and that might explain everything.
I once had a car overtake on a fast downhill stretch then slam on the brakes right in front of me because of oncoming traffic on a width restricted bridge (which they had obviously failed to plan ahead for). I almost stopped in time but just went over the handlebar as I stopped and fell into the rear screen l, shattering it. I only hit the screen at what felt like walking pace but it was enough to shatter it, maybe because I landed on the wiper blade pivot.
Over 30 years I've seen many cars driven into the back of other cars due to bad driving but I don't recall ever seeing a cyclist run into the back of car due to poor cycling.
It seems highly unlikely that the cyclist was at fault.
As much as I hate to admit it, I did once cycle into the back of a car through my own sheer stupidity. On a commute home I assumed the car would behave the same way as every other one does at a particular junction, when it didn't I was carrying too much speed to stop in time. Thankfully only a gentle bump, but a very embarressed and apologetic me learning a lesson not to assume ANYTHING about anyone else's intentions when riding.
I almost went into the back of a bus the other month. My fault but going up a 4% and put some power on and was looking down and not in front so never noticed the bus has suddenly stopped at a stop, (camera later showed a late indication and brake for the bus stop but still my fault for not looking). Managed to brake hard and aimed for pavement rather then back of bus, closest I ever came to a brilliant CycloCross dismount in the end.
Yes, done that too.
I wasn't quite as stupid as this bloke though.... https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9OrKLGEOVRA
I did that!
I was 14 at the time, cycling to school and it was pouring with rain, so when I got to a road with double yellow lines I put my head down and went for it. When I glanced up there was a parked car a few feet away.
Cost me a trip to hospital, and new forks and front wheel. No idea what the damage to the car was.
Whilst there are many situations where this *could* have been the driver's fault, and putting to one side the issue of motor vehicles in the Park, we should not jump to conclusions and demonise the driver just because of their choice of vehicle. That's what many do to us cyclists, but we should rise above that. This could easily have been a mistake on the cyclist's part — we're not all infallible all the time.
This is why third party insurance is important to have — I'm very glad of my Cycling UK coverage in case something like this happens to me or a family member. If this does turn out to be the cyclist's fault, they'll be liable for the damage to the car.
Get off social media, Troon - there's no place for that sort of level-headed lack of prejudice here.
I mean, just because you don't have all the facts, that's no reason not to jump to a conclusion.
*driver slowed down to let some geese cross the road, according to police*
Cops have already jumped to conclusion, having only reported on what is clearly the driver's version, making it appear victim's fault.
And by neglecting the injured cyclist's account and make a fair and accurate judgement, there may have been intent on the part of the cops.
It's not unheard of corrupt anti-cylist cops taking the drivers side and inappropriately providing them with an excuse/s and free defence despite their guilt of dangerous driving.
I blame the goose-focussed media for force-feeding the police (and the general public) unhealthy tidbits of news about cyclists scaring pedestrians and generally being a nuisance. Even though you'd think what's sauce for the goose would be sauce for the gander. It's bigger than that though - none of us wants to kill the motor vehicles which lay the golden eggs.
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