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Cyclist's death descending from Mow Cop could have been due to speed shimmyMow Lane (via StreetView).jpg

Cyclist's death descending from Mow Cop could have been due to speed shimmy

Death ruled accidental
by Alex Bowden
Fri, Apr 07, 2017 12:09
8

An inquest has heard that a cyclist from Crewe died after losing control of his bike and hitting a tree. Paul Mooney was cycling along Mow Lane on the Cheshire–Staffordshire border on Monday September 27 when he came off the road, possibly after experiencing a speed shimmy.

The Crewe Chronicle reports that senior coroner for Cheshire Alan Moore ruled that Mooney’s death was an accident.

Mooney had been descending from Mow Cop and his bike computer revealed that he had been travelling at about 30mph at the time of the crash.

Mooney's wife, Jennifer, said he had cycled on that road many times before and data revealed that he had ridden the stretch at similar speeds without any problems.

A passing motorist, Mark Hyde, said that he had been driving home from work shortly before 6pm when Mooney had come around the corner near the middle of the road.

He said that he had appeared to be wobbling on his bike “as though he was losing control and trying to get back to his side of the road”.

He said Mooney left the road on his bike and went into the verge where he hit something. The bike stopped and Mooney went over the handlebars into a tree.

Hyde said there didn’t appear to be anything in the road that would have been an obstacle or distraction to Mooney and added that he thought the cyclist had been trying to regain control of his bike before he’d come into view.

PC Rob Wilson, a collision investigator from Cheshire Police, suggested that Mooney could have been suffering from the effects of a “high speed shimmy”.

He did point to one small pothole on the road, but said he couldn’t say whether such a thing could have triggered the phenomenon: “It is impossible to say whether the pothole or anything else on the surface of the road would have contributed to it. Unfortunately there is no definitive thing I can say that caused it.”

How to cure speed wobbles

Earlier this week, an inquest heard that a cyclist died on Newlands Pass near Buttermere in the Lake District after jumping off his bike while coming round a sharp bend.

Senior coroner David Roberts concluded that Dr Simon Newell was not going to make it round the corner on his bike and had jumped onto a bank where there was a significant drop.

He was however unable to say why Newell had crashed. "This is a steep hill. Simon knew the bend was there and I'm satisfied he was a careful rider. It's possible he could have come across a sheep, you just don't know.”

Mow Cop
cyclist fatality
Paul Mooney
Alex Bowden

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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8 comments

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Tony | 7 years ago
4 likes

I'd also consider swerving to avoid Mr Hyde and his car as a possibility.  It's not unknown for a motorist to blame the cyclist where the motorist is the only living witness.

Avatar
BehindTheBikesheds replied to Tony | 7 years ago
3 likes

Tony wrote:

I'd also consider swerving to avoid Mr Hyde and his car as a possibility.  It's not unknown for a motorist to blame the cyclist where the motorist is the only living witness.

You won't find a coroner speculating that as it might infer blame on a motorist, they're quite happy to make wild speculations based on bugger all facts (similarly to the MET police and the MM case) that make out that people on bikes are the main contributers to their deaths.

if it's a route he'd done many times before he'd be aware of the conditions on that road and IF it was a problem and/or the camber etc affects your direction then you must slow down and use caution.

30 mph might sound fast to non cyclists and even those that just potter but comparatively it's moderately fast, less speed than 99.9999% of motorists on high density urban streets in fact.

A speed wobble at max indicated 30mph on a downhill section that he'd likely done faster on that same bit of road with the same bike and never experienced issues would seem more than a bit doubtful, certainly more to this than what the police have reported but we'll never know.

A video camera would have revelaed a heck of a lot and I've had one for a few years now but rarely take it out these days.

Interesting no mention of clothing or helmet.

RIP to family.

Avatar
Kestevan | 7 years ago
7 likes

I came down the back off Mow Cop last week on the Cheshire Cat Sportive.

Surface of the road was like the fucking Moon. There was certainly more than a single small pothole to avoid.

Avatar
King_Louis replied to Kestevan | 7 years ago
3 likes

Kestevan wrote:

I came down the back off Mow Cop last week on the Cheshire Cat Sportive.

Surface of the road was like the fucking Moon. There was certainly more than a single small pothole to avoid.

 

I'll second that.

Avatar
Dnnnnnn replied to Kestevan | 6 years ago
0 likes
Kestevan wrote:

I came down the back off Mow Cop last week on the Cheshire Cat Sportive.

Surface of the road was like the fucking Moon. There was certainly more than a single small pothole to avoid.

Wasn't any better this year.

I wonder if the organisers have alerted the roads authorities to the conditions. Councils often otherwise claim ignorance.

Avatar
tritecommentbot | 7 years ago
1 like

Very sad, another freak accident. Can be a great rider, check your kit regularly and sometimes the die just don't roll in your favour. 

 

Isn't really the place for it, but I wonder if the future will bring cycle computers with algorithms that can detect precarious situations and relay some warning or response well in advance. Sounds ridiculous now, but who knows what's possible. We've seen lazers hit the road to signal motorists of our presence, perhaps they could be used to highlight potholes or other objects on the road ahead via a scanning system once the tech is there. That tech will definitely be there, cars are using it and it'll simply become smaller, lighter, more accessible to entrepreneurs. Think driverless tech has already been opensourced on the market for example. 

Avatar
Yorkshire wallet replied to tritecommentbot | 7 years ago
4 likes

unconstituted wrote:

Very sad, another freak accident. Can be a great rider, check your kit regularly and sometimes the die just don't roll in your favour. 

 

Isn't really the place for it, but I wonder if the future will bring cycle computers with algorithms that can detect precarious situations and relay some warning or response well in advance. Sounds ridiculous now, but who knows what's possible. We've seen lazers hit the road to signal motorists of our presence, perhaps they could be used to highlight potholes or other objects on the road ahead via a scanning system once the tech is there. That tech will definitely be there, cars are using it and it'll simply become smaller, lighter, more accessible to entrepreneurs. Think driverless tech has already been opensourced on the market for example. 

Be nice to actually have roads that aren't made of gyspy tarmac in the first place. I don't think most drivers realise how crap the edges of the roads are. An uber-cycling-pothole-scanning-computer would probably just tell you to put the bike back in the garage and not bother.

Avatar
Stumps | 7 years ago
1 like

If its andverse camber then he could have been fighting that as it would have pulled him across the road into the opposite lane. 

We will never know but its still very sad. 

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