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The bottom of Parsons Hill (via StreetView)Injured Velo Birmingham riders complain of dangerous descent with speedbumps on it
Cyclists who rode Velo Birmingham earlier this month have complained there were no warnings ahead of one ‘deathtrap’ descent featuring speedbumps. At least four riders were hurt on Parsons Hill in Kings Norton where one spectator took to standing and shouting warnings to riders.
The descent is a couple of hundred metres at about 8% with the speed bumps towards the bottom.
Birmingham Live reports that Robert Wright, 72, suffered two broken ribs, a fractured shoulder and collarbone and other cuts and scrapes after coming off his bike at the spot.
“I have no idea what happened,” he said. “I’ve been cycling for 64 years and I’m very experienced.
“The collar bone will take the most time to heal. I’m in shock and a bit of pain. I can’t remember seeing any warning at all about bumps.”
Another to fall victim was Derek Packham, who said: “The cause of my accident was that I hit a speed bump and lost control of my front wheel. I didn't see the speed bump due to there being too many other cyclists on the road.
“I suffered quite severe road rash on my knee, thigh, arm, hand and shoulder. I also suffered strained upper back muscles. I was treated at the side of the road by a doctor, who advised me that she was directed there due to the amount of accidents at that location.
“They knew it was an accident hotspot, it should have been neutralised. Whilst being treated another guy came off and I saw another sitting on the verge, clearly in distress having also fallen.”
Kam Majevadia echoed Packham’s comments about the lack of warning that there were speedbumps.
“I was riding behind a couple of others and didn't see them. They moved at the last minute to avoid them and I went straight over them.
“I somehow managed to stay on my bike. It was more luck than skill. I noticed a couple of people on the side who had crashed. I ended up taking the hill very slowly after that.”
Another cyclist, Julian Hunter, suffered damaged ligaments in his right clavicle and abrasions after crashing on Parsons Hill.
The wife of another claimed on social media that he had suffered bleeding on the brain and torn neck arteries, plus a broken collarbone, breast bone and ribs at the location. West Midlands Ambulance confirmed they had attended the scene.
Della Waterfield, who had come to watch the event nearby said: “While the ambulance was still on scene for one man, another came flying off his bike. He hit the speed bump, flew off his bike and skidded 50ft on his back across the road.
“I stood in the middle of the road shouting to the riders to watch the speed bumps because it was too dangerous and you couldn’t see them.
“Parsons Hill was a death trap. I’m not sure why the organisers decided to take the event down a road that was full of speed bumps that were not clearly visible. It was very scary.”
Another spectator, Wendy Badger, said she saw at least four cyclists come off.
“As far as I can make out, they all came off at the speed bumps or just after,” she said. “It was like a battlefield. We were getting short of medics. It was really horrible.
“A doctor at Queen Elizabeth hospital said they'd had 13 people brought in just from Parsons Hill and they still kept letting the cyclists come down at speed for hours.”
The organisers of Vélo Birmingham & Midlands declined to comment.
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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30 comments
I suppose the analogy is track days vs driving/riding on the road. Used to do a lot of those, and different organisers had different rules regarding safety briefings. One I recall had a "stop a session, you go home" rule - if you binned your car/bike in a gravel trap that was that, no refunds. Improved driving standards no end. I fell foul of it myself once - first corner of first full lap due to under-inflating my track tyres.
Others were little more than hooligan days with people actively trying to do really stupid stuff like drift through Paddock Hill Bend at Brands, or take Camp at Castle Combe flat out. They were without question utter carnage with plenty of collateral damage. 'Ring days are the same. Letting anyone turn up, flash their license, and a bunch of 20s leads to severe damage, injury, and even deaths.
I think sportives have got worse in recent years, when I started doing them in 2014 numbers were smaller and people would call out hazards and clear/stop at junctions. Maybe its the closed roads ones, certainly when I did Ride London a couple of years ago there was proper insane riding going on (undertaking in particular - one of the good things I saw applied to car/bike track days was that without question overtaking was always on the right and on straights only). Once again, instant black flag and go home if you broke the rule.
Looking back I know I took more chances on RL than I would on an open-road sportive. Full gas down Putney Hill/High Street springs to mind. Needs to be a bit more perhaps on group riding etiquette - particularly half-wheeling, calling out hazards, and where/how to overtake.
If the standard of riding at Velo Birmingham was at the same level as you'd see in Ride London, I'm surprised there were only four riders injured.
It's not the organisers' fault that people who've got bugger all experience of riding at 40km/h in a group decide that the best place to learn is a closed-road sportive.
Yeah, I sit firmly in the camp of people need to take responsibility for their own actions.
When I explain group riding / racing to new people I always stress that you are responsible for your front wheel and where it goes. This point is primarily driven to make people stop thinking about, and looking to see what is happening behind them, but the major sentiment is, you are responsible for your own safety, no body else.
Just because a road is closed, it does not remove your need to take responsibility.
As already highlighted, I'd suggest there is a general lack of understanding of group riding etiquette and skills, and this is something that you can't mitigate against with signs. For instance, if a rider is riding so tightly in a group that they can't see a speed bump, or indeed that people in front are negotiating a speed bump, how on earth are they going to be able to look at any signage at the side of the road... and even if they do, if they are so closely packed as described, what can they do about it?
What I'd suggest, and i guess already happens is that included in any rider pack, or the application process, there is the inclusion of a 'Ride Smart' document, that outlines the do's and don't of group riding. This exists for road racing, so I guess its there for Sportives too... its not the organisers fault that people don't read / appreciate its contents.
Dissapointing slant to this article. Rather than wiritng a positive story about riding safely during these type of events, things to look out for, controlling speed, etc you chose to write a sensational story with a click bait headline about crashing and injuries. I'd rather no one was hurt, but 13 people out of 17,000 on one stretch of road is hardly an accident hotspot.
Do you work for the organisers?
Isn't this article the way it is because people being injured by speed bumps they hadn't seen on an (allegedly) inadequately signed road is news.
A "a positive story about riding safely during these type of events, things to look out for, controlling speed, etc " would be under the blog or advice sections, I would have thought ("15 ways to stay safe on your first sportive", that sort of thing).
Well, I'm in agreement with many of the individual comments expressed above and, although I don't want to sound crass, it's time people start to take responsibility for their own (in)actions.
The trouble with large scale, closed road sportives is that they have to have large fields to make them cost effective. There are very few enforcable conditions that the organisers can (or would) place on entrants, but the VAST majority would fail any basic test on group riding etiquette. With the huge influx of participants in to the sport recently, it's obvious that most haven't been club members, for instance, where the concept of looking out for each other is instilled from the first seconds of ride #1. Of all the people that I passed, or who passed me, on the Velo Birmingham, I could genuinely count on the fingers of my two hands the number of them that signalled for potholes, parked cars, road furniture etc. Lots of people looked at those of us calling the humps as if we were mad, rather than thinking "good idea" Spatial awareness was lacking too, with many a ridiculous and dangerous manoeuvre on display throughout.
By and large this was a very safe route, hazards were either highlighted or obvious WHEN APPROACHED SENSIBLY. As somebody else said, even pros drop back further from the rider ahead when they make fast descents, but that's not just because they're pro cyclists, it's because it's also basic, instinctive common sense. I grow weary of our blame culture where we never look close enough to home to discover that we ourselves are usually the architects of our own misfortunes. With apologies and sympathy to the "victims", I'm going to accentuate the positive here - the organisers managed to get 16987 people, myself included, down this road safely.
100% agree. The standard of riding was generally very poor. At no point was additional signage needed or would have been of benefit - no one had their head up to observe and take action anyway!
I know this hill well, and avoid it like the plague on the bike. I recognised it from the photo at the head of this artcle, what you can't appreciate from the piccy is that there is only one route down that hill, and that is straight down the middle to avoid going over the humps, and avoid the trees on the left (which overhang in parts) and the potholes below them. At the bottom there's a sharp left turn over a canal bridge and more speed cushions, some with potholes along thier edges!
I'm shocked that this was used as part of the route at all, frankly.
You simply aren't going to see the humps in a crowd, and people unfamiliar with this stretch of road are going to have a serious problem among a big group of cyclists. It's a menace, and I hope there weren't any similar sections of road on the route, especially on hills.
The comment quoted the QE doctor was similar to one I heard from Shrewsbury hospital regarding a downhill race nearby - where my son had crashed on a particular bump, and I had the "joy" of following the ambulance that collected him with a suspectd back injury. What I overhead was 16 riders brought in, some with life-changing injuries (fortunatley my son was wearing body armour as well as helmet etc.), and that the hospital had put in a complaint to the event organisers. A parallel here, perhaps, that the Velo organisers should note?
Having been a route planner and safety officer for a sportive that my club hosted a few years ago I agree with the sentiment that there is only so much you can do and riders must take responsibility for their own conduct and riding style.
Those who know Cheshire/ Peak District will know the descent from the Cat & Fiddle down the A54 towards Bosley/ Congleton. It is fast - that’s where Ian Stannard rode away from his breakaway companions to win Stage 3 of the Tour of Britain 2016 (our sportive was to celebrate being Start Town for the stage).
As you descend past Blaze Ice Cream Farm at Allgreave there is a very tight bend around the chapel, and I mean very tight! There is a crash barrier at the perfect height to launch a rider over the edge if they go in too fast.
As part of my risk assessment I identified this as the most dangerous part of the (open road) event. I had signs up saying “SLOW HAIRPIN BEND AHEAD” in very large lettering and then two marshals with whistles and flags stationed outside the pub in their lay-by flagging riders down.
At the HQ I had a large format OS map with the route on together with a safety briefing sheet highlighting the event rules and also pointing out this particular risk with its associated mileage/KM point. This was stressed to each rider at event sign on and highlighted as the point which represented the greatest risk on the route.
We had a paramedic car based at the same pub, to be despatched as needed, but had identified that as the most likely spot for it to be needed!
Only one accident, which was on the climb to the Cat and Fiddle! It was actually a mate’s son (late twenties, not a teenager!) who struck a pedal on a bend on the little bit of down part way up the climb from Macclesfield. He did end up in A&E having his knee stitched up.
So, question is was the risk assessment for this event adequate - did they perceive that the speed humps may be difficult to see in large groups? They did sign it, but was the sign big enough, clear enough, repeated maybe in case someone missed the first? Was the risk deemed large enough to warrant marshals at that point? But ultimately, if the risk was identified and mitigated sufficiently then the event organisers cannot account for people riding inappropriately (not holding the handlebars, not looking where they are going, riding too fast for the conditions etc etc.)
PP
well 13 riders out of circa 15,000 on the 100mile route, its not even 0.1%, whilst the injuries are nasty and severe, thats no doubt a result of the speed of the crashes, not a result of the speed bump
and if the speed bumps were causing that much of an issue many many more people would have come off on them, and fwiw I dont think they were an issue at all as Im pretty sure I rode over them, partly because people were still steaming past on my right even though the right hand lane was then blocked with the ambulance and partly I didnt want to gamble no-one had stuck half a wheel down my left side as we'd slowed up.
and that last bit is the important thing, because people were doing that half wheeling you on the inside, drafting you, and most of the crashes I saw happen were caused as bikes in front changed direction across the road and the rider behind who had been drafting or just following too closely, either half wheeling or not even properly paying attention, touched wheels or their front wheel just got swept out from under them.
my guess is someone in the group decided to go around the speed bump maybe at the last second so it was an abrupt change of direction and the ripple of that move in such a tightly bunched group led to the crashes, at the speed they were probably hitting, you probably had less than a second to react if you were only inches away from someones wheel and it moved left or right and you werent expecting it, you might not even have seen it happen, you just ended up on the deck.
the same thing happens on other big rides like this usually on the descents, on Ride London its Leath Hill, London to Brighton its Ditchling Beacon etc etc.
Is 8 % even counted as a hill?
This was my first Velo and I thought it was well organised and the route was sufficiently signposted. I’m not the most skilled rider and rode within my capabilities, often backing off on descents especially where it was crowded. Surprised that there had been so many accidents. I definitely felt safer on the closed roads than I ever do when I commute to work.
Having tripped over a speed bump about 3 miles into the London Marathon, I can assure you that they are easy to miss in a crowd.
But, warning signs, marshalls... theres only so much race planners can do to mitigate every hazard.
They do have marshals at the Marathon with big placards and often whistling to get attention. I've done it a dozen times or more and only seen a couple of fallers.
They do have marshals at the Marathon with big placards and often whistling to get attention. I've done it a dozen times or more and only seen a couple of fallers.
Additionally, I'd say that the speed bumps were pretty obvious and easy to see - unless you were riding head down. The pic is from the camera on my bars to pretty low down compared to normal riding position.
velo-ParsonsHill-2.jpg
I remember the ambulance and someone else was down about 100 yards past it. I assumed the issues were not the speed bumps but also the state of the road not being the smoothest past them. And they might have been helping but the specatators running into the road to shout slowdown was what caused me an issue as I was suddenly also moving back across the path of others at speed and looking at them rather then the road.
Or did they just not see the large yellow signs saying 'Slow' and 'Caution Speed Bumps'?
velo-ParsonsHill.png
Thanks for posting that, I felt sure I'd seen signs warning of the speed bumps, but didn't have pictures.
But still hope those who were injured recover quickly.
Going by the position of that sign and the first speed cushion that's about 50metres, how much thinking time do you think that is between seeing the sign acknowledging it and acting, it's not a big sign when going at speed and IMO I reckon you've got 2, maybe 3 seconds before you actually reach the cushion. If that was the only sign then it really is not enough knowing that people will be riding in large numbers that will hide hazards on the road itself.
A big sign (double the sign used) at the top of the hill and stating SLOW speed bump halfway down would have been massively diffewrent. Putting it on the road so close to the hazard when riders are looking mostly at the road ahead and at speed is really a poor effort that fails to understand how signs and how fast human brains can react.
You don't see road signs for motorists slap bang on top of hazards do you?
*As the picture shows the only sign for cars being a big SLOW sign a yard before the hazard*
There were slow signs further up and also at the top of most of the slopes including the ones where the unfortunate cyclist was killed.
Being 72 and teararsing down a hill probably factors in.....
Especially as the report states where he lived and that is approx 2-3 miles from that hill so I'm surprised he had no idea there are speed bumps on it.
Of course ride to the conditions but the consensus from the articles I've read on this particular area of the course is that the speed bumps were not clearly visible at certain times with high volumes of riders and so caught a number of riders unawares.
One, two, even three riders being taken down and you could say it's poor riding, but the numbers mentioned above would indicate that while a small number of the overall number riding in the event, it's still significant number in one place suggesting better signage or marshalling was required.
TBH the are so many events now I don't think that proper risk assessment and controls are the priority.
How you you neutralise something that's not a race?
Take off, nuke it from orbit: its the only way to be sure...
Brilliant, thanks for that, the most I've laughed for months
Ride to the conditions etc etc.
exactly this, I dont recall that hill or those speed bumps being much of an issue and Im fairly certain there were signs for speed bumps, certainly there were road signs if you were minded to note them, but there were potholes and lumpy road features, the odd water bottle bigger than them to worry about on the route.
but my impression was there were a fair few riders taking risks in the way they descended, you dont see pro riders riding so close to each other on a descent they can touch wheels, or half wheel one another, and is crouching on the top bar really such a good idea just because youve seen it on the tv. alot of the crashes I saw, and some happened directly in front of me,had a feel of inevitability about them.
I remember seeing those speed bumps and thinking that they may cause problems if you hadn't seen them in time - a bit tasty!
Agree about people with elbows on the top bar but what I found worse were people riding no-handed - really irresponsible given unexpected potholes etc which could have resulted in them taking out another rider if they had a wobble.