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Broken bike (CC licensed image by garryknight, www.flickr.com)Man dies after 15mph crash in Richmond Park
In what is being described as a freak accident, a 40-year-old man died on Sunday after falling off his bike on a descent in Richmond Park, Surrey.
Police were called to the crash which occurred just before 09:30 on Sunday morning. The man, who has not yet been named, was taken by London's Air Ambulance to the Royal London Hospital in a critical condition, but later died from his injuries.
The rider is reported to have crashed as a result of hitting gravel while descending Broomfield Hill/Dark Hill, near the park's south-eastern edge.
The man was put into the recovery position by a passing doctor. He was wearing a helmet and is thought to have been travelling at about 15 mph. The speed limit in Richmond Park is 20mph.
Oliver Prior, who was riding up the hill as the man came down it, told Mary Isokariari of the Evening Standard: "The man was coming down on the outside of the bend where the road has the most amount of gravel. He bike slipped from underneath him and he fell and hit his head.
“There was a doctor, who just happened to be cycling and he organised for three people to help move the man into the recovery position. My friend was one of them."
The Metropolitan Police said that the deceased's next of kin had been notified and that the MPS Royal Parks Command Unit is now investigating.
No one else was involved in the incident.
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
Latest Comments
- brooksby 3 sec ago
Am I the only person genuinely surprised to read this? I'd assumed that it would be at night - but 10.30 in the morning???
- Veloism 17 min 38 sec ago
They don't deserve any payment, but the rebrand was done before Ashley got his stinky hands on it, so they probably did.
- chrisonabike 20 min ago
There's a book that can help you with that! I can't remember if it covers traffic jams on the Via Appia specifically but I'm sure there are some...
- hawkinspeter 41 min 26 sec ago
Totally agree - that's a very nice route for walking along by the river when you're not forced onto Crews Hole Rd.
- brooksby 44 min 52 sec ago
There are a lot of people out there who seem to think exactly that. It's like all those times that the traffic lights change as you are halfway...
- brooksby 1 hour 51 min ago
No, you're not missing anything. I've just re-read the original article and I clearly just presumed they would hand in their licence…
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That still annoys me about the BBC - iplayer only keeps some programmes available for a short time, so we have to rely on people making copies to...
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The point of limited-run models like these isn't to make a profit. It's a marketing exercise to get the brand in the media via filler articles that...
- FionaJJ 3 hours 23 min ago
Seems like a flaw. I wonder who decided that? Surely it's in everyone's interests to come up with an agreement that a portion of the car-park be...
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Don't forget the hour record!...
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34 comments
Very sad indeed. Also feel bad about grumbling whilst having to walk the bike past the closed road on Sunday. RIP
terrible turn of events.
i ride in the park quite a lot - the roads are all sealed, but the car parks are gravel and there is quite regularly a bit of gravel down the verge of the main roads, and sometimes in the centre in places.
i did have a moment in there a few weeks back where a load of gravel had been left on the apex of the left hander at the roundabout before you climb up Broomhill from Kingston gate. I was lucky in the sense that i could let the bike run wide onto the wrong side of the road, no cars and manage to stay upright.
Sympathies to the family and friends.
Anyone local able to comment on the gravel there? Is it surface dressing gone wrong or something else?
Sorry for the family
RIP fot the cyclist. Btw folks speed limit does not apply to bicycles. http://www.astounding.org.uk/ian/cyclelaw/speed_limits.html
Royal parks have passed a bylaw stating 20 mph for all. So it does.
Surely coming off at 15mph (the estimate) can't kill? I have crashed going faster than that.
Maybe something happened when they moved him?
People die or are seriously injured at zero or close to zero from falls, the skull is strong but not uniformly so, though the danger is in terms of head injuries is not the skull but the brain.
When you stand or ride a bike your head is a fair way from the ground, enought to fracture a skull and more.
Sure it's perfectly possible to crash at quite high speeds and dust your self off, but worryingly the reverse is true that it's possible to do serious if not fatual harm by a "minor" fall.
This guy was clearly desperately unlucky to not of walked away, but it's certainly possible.
Yes you can unfortunately, and less, for reasons that might be best discussed elsewhere. Condolences to the family.
Tragic & sympathies
Question "the speed limit for Richmond Park is 20mph" - surely that is for cars not cycles?
I suggest you do a bit of googling on this, there is a story on here somewhere.
Basically Royal Parks think they can, and as a result they have enforced a 20mph limit on cyclists, at this time no one has tried to legally challenge a fine, although it has been suggested that the way Royal Parks is reading the law is questionable.
This CTC thread suggests the logic by which one might challenge a bicycle speeding prosecution in Richmond Park.
(Condolences to the rider's family, should any of them be reading this train-wreck of a thread).
Could you please disable comments on this story.
A tragedy but I am curious about the "wearing a helmet" bit:
Was it a "modern" helmet (in terms of design and materials)? I still see people riding with those old Styrofoam buckets that offer limited protection.
Was it the right size? I once assisted a woman with a nasty head injury who was wearing a undersized helmet that left her forehead exposed -- I guess it passed the mirror test though.
Was it being worn (adjusted) properly? Or like the people that wear them tipped back on their head or worse yet like a beret.
irrelevant, the only element that might be, is how old the helmet is, i.e. how degraded. Most current helmets are actually worse than those sold 20 years ago, the current standards are actually lower for most manufacturers, i believe that only Specialized still use the stricter Snell standard.
People seem to place so much faith in, what is in essence a crap piece of safety equipment.
wear a helmet don't wear a helmet, i don't care, just don't believe it is miraculous, don't believe that it will help in every situation, it won't. This is why helmets must not be compulsory, and why the courts need to be educated as to just how crap, and how little help a helmet is.
RIP.
Tragic accident and quite shocking personally having come off at that sort of speed recently.
Simply coming off at 15mph should not cause life threatening injuries, helmetted or not, which suggests to me that the poor chap has either hit something else or had some other medical reason for falling in the first place.
As has been said you never know when it's your time - makes me gratefull to be here and able to post.
People die from falls, just tripping or what ever. You can suffer a serious head injoury at zero speed since it's a fair way head to ground. Not just the old and imfirm, or drunk.
Maybe he made a mistake maybe he didn't, very Sad regardless for those who knew him.
Wearing a helmet does not guarantee safety in the event of an accident, not wearing a helmet does not guarantee injury. It merely shifts the odds. We don't know the cause of death, just that he fell and hit his head. There are a multitude of factors that play towards the tragic outcome.
Let it rest.
Commiserations to the family and friends of the deceased.
@ Nuclearcoffee: brave post. Chapeau. I agree totally. Guaranteed it would have been a shitstorm of 'Tragic But...' 'Terrible for the family But...' 'Some of my best friends don't wear helmets But...'
In discussing population-level issues (which helmet promotion let alone legislation is) *every* evidence point is a personal tragedy for those concerned. Discussion of the wider issue does not subtract from that or our compassion for those suffering a life-changing loss. We should acknowledge this for what it is: proof positive that 160gm of coffee-cup material full of holes will not save your life, even at low speed, on a flat surface, with no other vehicle involved. Do not rely on it. Putting aside libertarian views on personal risk, responsibility and the state's interference or lack thereof: If you ride faster, further or take more risk wearing one you have been fooled by an industry selling a comfort blanket that just doesn't work.
@KiwiMike
Firstly, my condolences to his family. I was there on Sunday and at the time it was clearly serious.
Secondly, I don't wish to turn this into an argument after someone has died, but please don't use one incident as evidence helmets are pointless, or even dangerous. Yes, in this case, it appears the helmet did not save his life. However, no-one knows all the factors involved here.
Full studies of incidents involving head injuries, or simulations of, should be the only evidence into account. Yes, this one incident would or could form part of that, but a single incident is never evidence on its own.
If you personally feel helmets are unnecessary or inadequate, feel free to not wear one, or perhaps one designed for motorsports users. I understand you may have a grievance against legislation (where I would agree with you) but I don't think it's fair to read this incident as positive evidence that you can discard your helmet when riding a road bike at speed.
Hopefully this discussion won't become aggressive, and we all just remember that there are many factors involved in serious injury.
Perhaps We can see the use of gravel as a top dressing eliminated in Richmond Park now?
Tragic as this is, if the local authority don't act, then a decent lawyer will be able to argue that they are liable for all and any injuries attributed to loose gravel.
My sympathies to the family.
As already said... you just never know when its your turn to go!
RIP
Comments normally disabled on fatality stories surely?
Comments are closed if they would interfere with a prosecution, but this is a tragic accident with no other party involved.
Some news sites will close comments due to trolling and abuse. I expect everyone using road.cc is far removed from such behaviour.
Maybe just ones where it looks like there will be a legal prosecution?
I blame the gravel on the side of the road...
Tragic.
RIP. You just don't know when it's your turn.
Please, please, please, can we not turn this into a helmet debate? Blah blah impact speed blah blah helmet didn't save him blah blah. The poor guy's died, can we just leave it at that?
I was going to comment the same. Sincerest sympathies for his friends and family.
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