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news
Lockhaugh Rd ahead of Sherburn Park Drive turn, Rowlands Gill (Google Street View)Council warned “future deaths could occur” unless speed limit is lowered on road where cyclist was killed by overtaking minibus driver
A coroner has urged a council to lower the speed limit of a residential road in Newcastle, deeming the current 40mph limit as “unsafe” and as having the potential to cause further fatalities, following an inquest into a cyclist’s death after he was hit by an overtaking minibus driver.
John Liddle, 44, was riding southwards on the A694 Lockhaugh Road in Rowlands Gill, wearing a yellow hi-vis jacket and with lights at about 11:40pm on 3rd May 2023 when the driver of a Mercedes minibus hit him.
As he moved into the centre of the road to turn onto Sherburn Park Drive, the driver hit him and he suffered life-threatening head injuries. He was then taken to Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary, where he died 18 days later. Following the collision, the driver remained at the scene to assist officers with their enquiries.
Now, an inquest into Liddle’s death held at Newcastle Coroners’ Court last week heard that he died of a blunt head injury.
Lockhaugh Road is a residential road in Rowlands Gill, a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead of Tyne and Wear, and Senior Coroner Georgina Nolan has slammed the 40mph speed limit in place at the location as “unsafe”.
She added that she believed “there is a risk that future deaths could occur unless action is taken”, and relayed her concerns to Gateshead Council in the Prevention of Future Deaths report, a document issued when a coroner believes action should be taken to avoid future fatalities.
She wrote: “At the time of the collision the area of the A694 upon which Mr Liddle was cycling was subject to a 40 miles per hour speed limit. The speed limit on this area of road has now (temporarily) been reduced to 30 miles per hour.
“The road is within a residential area, the road encompasses bends and junctions, and there have been a number of other collisions along the stretch of road involving pedal cycles, pedestrians and motor vehicles.
“A 40 miles per hour speed limit is unsafe for this stretch of road. In my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe you and/or your organisation have the power to take such action.”
The Northern Echo reports that Gateshead Council will now have 56 days to respond to the Coroner explaining what action it will take.
In 2023, Wales became the first country in the UK to reduce the speed limit from 30mph to a national default of 20mph on residential streets and in built-up areas, in a move that was widely criticised but was based on research that showed a 10mph reduction in speed could dramatically reduce injury and fatality rates amongst cyclists, pedestrians and other vulnerable road users in collision with motor traffic.
Last August, figures published on the Welsh government website showed that the number of police-recorded road collisions on 20 or 30mph roads in the first quarter of 2024 was the lowest quarterly figure ever recorded in Wales outside of the Covid period, with a Senedd spokesperson calling the initial collision statistics “encouraging” and saying that they suggest things “are moving in the right direction”.
Adwitiya joined road.cc in 2023 as a news writer after completing his masters in journalism from Cardiff University. His dissertation focused on active travel, which soon threw him into the deep end of covering everything related to the two-wheeled tool, and now cycling is as big a part of his life as guitars and football. He has previously covered local and national politics for Voice Cymru, and also likes to write about science, tech and the environment, if he can find the time. Living right next to the Taff trail in the Welsh capital, you can find him trying to tackle the brutal climbs in the valleys.
Latest Comments
- mitsky 5 sec ago
"... what's stopping the drivers from overtaking?" "The only thing slowing down drivers are other drivers."
- Rendel Harris 2 min 23 sec ago
I feel a bit of a heel even suggesting this but there could be at least the possibility that the minibus driver was making a legitimate overtake...
- andystow 18 min 40 sec ago
These things and other cheap ebikes are the culprit around me. At least they have lights, but there's no beam cutoff or even brightness settings....
- mdavidford 52 min 46 sec ago
That's an impressive exercise in hair-splitting, but somewhat irrelevant. They're not 'close' to being a BBC, so quibbling over whether they should...
- Rendel Harris 1 hour 19 min ago
I guess everyone's experience is different, I'm currently using a cheap pair of Rockbros photochromics for commuting that are completely clear in...
- chrisonabike 1 hour 22 min ago
A good answer, but that doesn't stop the question - how did it come to be so? (Yes - "it got that way because that's what happened"...)....
- hawkinspeter 1 hour 49 min ago
I had a pair of Fulcrum wheels that came with my Genesis bike, but shortly after buying it, a rear wheel spoke broke. Turned out that they used...
- mark1a 1 hour 54 min ago
No doubt harder. A work colleague of mine does the Dorset Coast 200 every month, and has just completed 10 years of consecutive RRTY. The only...
- mark1a 1 hour 59 min ago
No and it's quite likely it's the parents driving, but every other post here from mitsky is critical of other content describing "cars" doing this...
- chrisonabike 2 hours 4 min ago
Looks like a lot of folks who might favour Reform in the comments......
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14 comments
So it's down to how he was 'hit'...
helmet not mentioned as absent or present, so we must assume one was being worn and it was ineffective - if this were not the case there would be spiel about how helmets save lives.
Helmets 'can' save lives, this is the point, and should not 'assume' anything beyond confirmed facts and circumstances. Certainly did so for me in an airlifted RTA (car vs cycle) in which I suffered catastrophic spinal injuries and a brain haemorrhage. The brain and spinal surgeons could not have been clearer that had I not been wearing a quality helmet that day (Kask for the record), I would be dead from a direct head trauma or best case having daily protein/carbs drinks administered via a straw.
As to this poor man and his family, my heart goes out to them, and another reflection on how lucky I got that day.
They do save lives. Theres no ifs or buts about it. And no, they aren't a magic safety item that would allow a double decker to punch you in the head as you laugh it off. They will however help in more minor head contacts and potentially help turn quite serious ones into something survivable as the other commentor has experience with.
Lights --- Check!
Hi-Vis --- Check!
Invisible anyway --- Check!
Was the minibus driver overtaking the cyclist (ie. ran into him from behind) or was he overtaking another road user / oncoming vehicle (and ran into him head-on)?
Although clearly they didn't overtake, since surely a key part of overtaking is not driving through the party being overtaken.
"Attempted to overtake" would have been clearer, true.
Did 'overtake' just come from the Northern Echo article?
Also 'bend' seems to overstate, a gently curving road, as seen in the top image.
Is getting hit by a probably distracted driver of a motor vehicle at a notional 30mph that much better than 40mph? Clearly more likely survivable, but drivers should/must be looking where they're going, whatever the speed!
I assume the Coroner cannot reccomend the police to actually enforce motoring laws?
Kind of irrelevant no? The coroner cannot ask the Police to globally enforce all the traffic laws. Also there is no suggestion that the Minibus driver was breaking anything but Careless/Dangerous driving laws at that particular moment. There is no mention of the driver speeding - albeit this isnt his trial.
I feel a bit of a heel even suggesting this but there could be at least the possibility that the minibus driver was making a legitimate overtake and the cyclist pulled across to make their turn without signalling or properly shoulder checking? That would explain the apparent lack of prosecution.
I withdraw my question (and intend to re-read articles before posting in future…) <sound of wrist being slapped>
As mdavidford pedantically pointed out though, it was not an overtake but an overtake "attempt". Well - in reality it could have been "just drove right into them" but perhaps "I was carefully overtaking but the cyclist suddenly turned directly in front of my vehicle and I had not chance of avoiding them"?