Update: Police in Derbyshire identify cyclist killed in collision with motorcyclists on Sunday

Derbyshire Constabulary have today named the cyclist killed in a collision on Sunday with two motorcycles, one of whose riders also died, as Matthew Hook, aged 28, from Sheffield. The fatal incident took place just before 1pm on the A621 road near the Owler Bar roundabout on the edge of the Peak District National Park.

Police aked for  the public’s help in identifying the male cyclist. An initial appeal from police described the cyclist as aged between 20 and 30 and with “short dark brown/black hair, blue eyes and had short facial hair.” It added that he had been riding a bike with a carbon fibre frame and fitted with tri bars.

Speaking at Chesterfield Coroner’s Court yesterday, PC Andrew Prince of Derbyshire Constabulary provided further details, saying that the bike in question was a Giant road bike and that the cyclist was aged in his 30s. The motorcyclist who died in the incident was named as Kim Broomhead from Sheffield.

According to the Derbyshire Times, PC Prince added that the cyclist had been wearing a navy blue cycling top with the Kalenji brand name, dark blue cycling shorts with white panels bearing the Gordon & Smith name, and a blue and white cycle helmet.

Although Mr Hook has now been identified, police have also issued an appeal for witnesses to the incident itself, or who saw the motorcyclists or cyclist prior to it happening, so If you have any information, please contact Derbyshire Constabulary’s collision investigation team on 0345 123 3333.

No specific details of the circumstances that led to the fatal collision have yet been provided, but as we reported on road.cc last year, a report from EuroRAP and the Road Safety Foundation identified the A621 as the third most dangerous road in Britain in terms of accidents involving motorcyclists, and half of the top ten list were in and around the Peak District National Park.

One factor though by road safety campaigners to be behind that is what Lee Murphy, Manager of the Cheshire Safer Roads Partnership, described last year as an appeal to the "challenge mentality" among some motorcyclists when it came to riding on roads such as the A537 Cat & Fiddle, which the survey had identified as Britain's most dangerous road.

Mr Murphy told BBC News: "The Cat & Fiddle does have a bit of a challenge mentality, and a minority do try to ride it as fast as they can." 

Indeed, a cyclist who arrived on the scene of Sunday's incident later posted to the CTC Forum of having spoken to an eyewitness whose account suggests that the speed of the mtorcyclist may have been a significant factor behind it.

The tragic case also highlights the indispensability of carrying ID with you while out riding, whether in the form of one of the purpose-made bracelets available from the likes of Road ID and SporstTagID, or at least something in your jersey pocket that can tell the emergency services who you are and who should be contacted in the event of your becoming involved in an incident.