“Speeding” lorry driver who killed cyclist blamed low sun – but cyclist’s terminally ill wife says she doesn’t want to see motorist jailed

The terminally ill wife of a cyclist who was killed by a lorry driver – who claimed that he was blinded by the sun at the time of the fatal collision – says that she does not want to see the 27-year-old sent to prison, and called on motorists to pay more attention and take greater care around vulnerable road users.

HGV driver Douglas Ryder told police and witnesses that the sun was in his eyes when he hit leisure cyclist Michael Fleming in August 2022, though a subsequent investigation also found that Ryder was speeding prior to the collision and was in breach of regulations governing rest periods for lorry drivers.

He pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving at Naas Circuit Court, the Sunday World reports.

Mr Fleming (above), a 63-year-old leisure cyclist, was enjoying a Saturday morning ride near Clane, Co Kildare on 20 August 2022, when he was struck by HGV driver Ryder, who was travelling in the same direction, at around 8.15am.

The force of the collision knocked Mr Fleming into a ditch, where other motorists attempted to assist him, as Mr Ryder and another road user called for an ambulance. Despite the efforts of police officers, paramedics, and doctors, Mr Fleming was pronounced dead at the scene. A post-mortem revealed that he died due to multiple traumatic injuries.

One witness at the scene told gardaí that Mr Ryder – a self-employed haulier since 2016 – had claimed that the sun was in his eyes when he hit the cyclist, a claim he repeated to officers when he was arrested the following month.

Detective Garda Christine Brady told the court that an analysis of Mr Ryder’s lorry found that it had been travelling at 91kph for at least a minute on an 80kph road before the collision. The truck’s tachograph also showed that Ryder had breached the regulatory rest periods lorry drivers are obliged to take.

> Delivery driver who hit cyclist and blamed low sun found not guilty of causing death by careless driving

In a letter of apology to the cyclist’s family, the 27-year-old said he accepts that he “bears the responsibility” for the collision and that if he could turn back time, he would. The apology also added that, while it fades in comparison to the family’s grief, Mr Ryder has also suffered since the incident and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress.

Mr Fleming’s wife Ann told the court last week that her and her family’s life had been “changed irrevocably” since her husband’s death, just 22 days shy of their 30th wedding anniversary.

She described Mr Fleming as a “kind, considerate, and good listener” who supported her as she underwent treatment for an incurable blood cancer and through two bone marrow transfers. Ann added of her sadness that her children’s father won’t be there for them when “they lose me to this illness”.

Mrs Fleming also acknowledged Mr Ryder’s letter of apology and said that her family would “not condone a custodial sentence” for the 27-year-old.

However, she said the lorry driver had made a series of poor choices and would have to live with those, before adding that she hoped the court case would act as an opportunity to warn motorists of the need to take greater care on the roads.

Noting that 56 families have already received the news this year that a loved one has died on Irish roads, Mrs Fleming argued that her husband’s death – like so many other vulnerable road users killed in collisions – was preventable, and that if motorists paid more attention this needless loss of life could be reduced.